In Which We Find the Weird among the Ordinary
by Hugs Lee 13
Summary: The two biggest problems of being a girl are finding yourself and falling in love. So what do you do when on top of all that you find out you have chakra and Orochimaru is stalking you? Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! This is Hugs Lee 13 with yet another story! Now remember how I've told you before that I like to write my chapters before hand and then post them? Well for this one I'm not, I'm just gonna wing it. So, some chapters will be long, some will be short, and I will really need your nice reviews to help me keep writing. Any pointers you have I would love so much (notice I'm not threatening or blackmailing you into reviewing this story. I think that is definite progress.). Oh, and everyone who clicked on this because I put Kiba and Lee as the main characters, I'm sorry, they aren't. The two main characters are completely made up (as far as you know anyways) but Kiba and Lee will be _very_ important, so keep reading! Thanks, don't forget the three R's: read, review, and recommend!**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Katsucon, but I do own the idea of Paige and Tori. So don't steal them or Lee and Kiba will hunt you down. _

_When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro._

_-Hunter S. Tompson_

Chapter One

The Four in a Store

_Saturday, January 27,2007_

_Florida, 4:46 PM_

_Costume Shop_

Tori and Paige stood in the old costume shop leafing through the racks. The shop had been owned by the last twenty years by an old woman named June Schmidt. It had survived the last few hurricanes, and as far as June was concerned, planned to survive for the next twenty years (and whatever natural disasters they might bring) as well.

June had seen some pretty excited teenagers searching for the perfect costume in her time, but none of them at the tail end of January. But this time of year had Paige and Tori more excited than merely Halloween would have. In exactly twenty-one days time Katsucon 13 would begin, the best anime expo on the planet, and they planned to be there, one way or another. However, they had only just gotten parental permission, leaving them no time to sew their own costumes or order them on the Internet. They had spent all of Saturday racing around town looking for a costume shop that sold Naruto themed costumes. They had gotten headbands at Target, lots of bandages at Sports Authority, and ninja-ish shoes at Pay Less, but they had yet to find the costumes they needed. They planned to go as Ino and Inner Sakura. Tori had to get a wig as well as her costume because of her brown hair. Paige's blond hair was perfect for the part of Ino, though. The two girls really had no idea if they would be able to find the costumes anywhere, but June prided herself on having every costume imaginable.

"Paige! I just found a Haku costume! If they have Haku they have to have Ino and Inner Sakura!"

June looked up from her files and smiled. "Girls, I think I have just what you're looking for," she said. "Follow me." She led them to the back of the store where there were crowns, swords, wigs, racks of costumes, and various trunks. It was dark and cool and quiet back here, a place where people didn't seem to go very often. The old woman reached to the very back corner of a rack and pulled out two bagged costumes. "Here you go."

Tori pulled her costume out of its bag. "Oh my gosh, these are perfect! I can't believe you had them! How long have you had these?"

"Long enough," June replied in her quiet, enigmatic way of talking. "Go try them on, they should be just your sizes."

There was only one dressing room, so Tori stood outside while Paige tried on her costume first. "You are going to look so funny with bright pink hair, Tori."

"I happened to have always wanted pink hair. I plan to enjoy the excuse to wear a wig. There's another thing I've always wanted to do, wear a wig. Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

"Except for wearing a skirt. Stupid skirt wearing Ino."

"You know, you could have been Tsunade. Are you done yet?" Tori said in a teasing voice.

"Never mind! I'd rather wear the skirt than Tsunade's top! "

"I repeat, are you done yet?"

"Yep! And I look fabulous!"

"May I see?"

"Nope! Just kidding, here you go." Paige opened the door that Tori had been leaning against and Tori fell into the dressing room. Paige started hysterically laughing. "Great job, you baka!"

"At least I'm not blond!" Tori yelled through her own laughter.

"At least I am!" This was the same comeback lines that they always used when Tori did something klutzy. This happened pretty regularly, so they had the argument down pat. Tori finally managed to look up from her position on the ground. "Wow! You look perfect! We are so going to rock Katsucon!"

"I still don't think we should do a skit," Paige protested. Tori was the one who liked to do things on stage, singing, acting, speaking, anything but dancing. Neither one of them could dance a step. Paige was a tomboy; she loved sports and hated all things girly. She also did not want to get on stage. Tori tried to convince her to join the drama club again and again, but Paige always refused. But Tori had been longing to drag Paige on stage for Katsucon.

"There is no way I'm taking no for an answer. We are going to completely immerse ourselves in the Naruto experience! Power of youth! Now stand out here, I'm going to put on mine and see how we look next to each other."

They switched places so Tori could put on her costume while continuing their conversation through the door.

"So, let's run over this one more time," said Tori, " You, your parents, and Devan are going to leave to drive to D.C. tomorrow afternoon. It will take you three days to arrive, right?"

"Yeah,"

" So you should arrive Wednesday the thirty-first. You will then spend some time seeing the great monuments of our country. Then Thursday the fifteenth of February, my parents will drop me at the airport, and I will hop on a plane to D.C. You and your parents will be waiting there to get me. And then Friday…"

"We go…" Paige continued.

"_To Katsucon 13! Chii!_" they both yelled together.

"Okay, here we go." said Tori, opening the door.

"Perfect! This is going to rock!"

"Shanaro! Now let's get out of these so that we can pay for them."

A few minutes later, Paige stood at the cash register to pay for her costume. Tori had already paid for her costume and was standing near the front of the store looking at wigs. Or at least she had told Paige that she was looking at wigs; you couldn't see much of the store standing at the register because of the odd architecture of the store. There was a partial wall a few feet in front of the register with a display of masks on it that blocked the view of the register from the door. June stood by the register watching her granddaughter out of the corner of her eye while carrying on a conversation with Paige. June's two granddaughters were just starting work at the store. May was still learning how to work the ancient register and was having distinct trouble with it. Maria, though, was in front reorganizing different costumes.

Tori had put on a short purple wig and was looking at her self in a mirror._ Hmm, maybe I should cut my hair like this. Although I wouldn't die it purple, Mom would freak. I wonder what would happen if I died **Paige's** hair purple. _She took off the purple wig and put on a long black one. _Ooh, or if we died her hair **black**. Man, I really do look like Aunt Vicky with black hair. Oma was right._ She reached for a spiky white wig as the bell on the door chimed. Four very odd looking figures walked in. Maria walked over to greet them as Tori looked up._ Nande kore!?!_ The people who had walked in were dressed exactly like the Sound Four. _Okay, that's pretty darn odd. There is no expo near here that I know of and who walks into a costume shop already in costume? _

"Hello there and welcome to Schmidt Costumes! May I help you find anything?" asked Maria in her special customer voice.

"Yes you can," said the fat one dressed like Jiroubou.

_Pretty dang good resemblance there,_ thought Tori,_ they could have been Masashi Kishimoto's inspiration._

"We're looking for a girl, she's about 170 centimeters tall," said the Kidoumaru wannabe.

"What?" said Maria, a confused expression on her face.

"Silly head," said the girl dressed like Tayuya, "She's a stupid American, she doesn't know metric measures."

"Tayuya!" said Jiroubou again.

_Nande kore times two! They even talk like the Sound Four. **And** they're calling each other by their character names. What's with that?_

The purple haired boy who looked like a girl smiled in a rather creepy way. "The girl we are looking for is about this tall," he said, holding his hand in the air, "and very blond, almost white haired. Do you think you've seen her in here?" He turned so that Tori could see the scroll tied on his back, and a large, round object that looked suspiciously like a human head.

_Holy crap! That's a real head, not a stuffed one! It's really the Sound Four! And they're looking for Paige! We've gotta get out of here!_

"Yeah, there's a blond girl in here. She's back in the back. I'll get her for you."

Tori dashed to the register as Maria was still talking. "Have a nice day," said May, handing Paige her bag just as Tori ran up. "Come on! We've gotta get out of here!" Tori said, grabbing Paige's arm and dragging Paige to the back of the store.

"What are you doing, Tori? What's going on?" questioned Paige as Tori shoved her into the dressing room and locked the door behind them.

"Shush!" hissed Tori. "Keep your voice down or they'll hear us!"

"Who?" whispered Paige, getting more and more frustrated by the minute.

"The Sound Four is here and they're looking for you!"

"What? The Sound Four! You mean people in costumes?"

"No, the actual Sound Four! Sakon has a second head!"

"Are sure it wasn't plastic?"

"I'm not stupid, Paige, I can tell the difference between a real head and a fake one!"

"Alright, if it is the Sound Four and they are looking for me, how you propose we get out of here?"

They heard yelling and someone playing a flute in the hall. "I saw them go in here! Golden Web jutsu!"

"This is not good!" whispered Paige in a somewhat casual voice.

"Not good? I'd say it's bloody terrible! How do we get out?"

"Have you considered the fact that your paranoia is causing you to overreact once again?"

The ground trembled slightly and Tori bent to look under the door. "I don't think I'm overreacting, especially considering that the are three large demon-looking thingies stomping down the hall ready to knock down the door."

"Wait! Let me see!" Paige ducked down to look. "Oh crap. I _think_ you're right."

"Don't think I'm overreacting now do you!"

The flute music got louder as did the thumping and the general sense of a very present evil.

"Um, Paige, Jiroubou just entered Level Two…"

Paige grabbed Tori's arm "Darn, I wish we were in the parking lot!"

There was a flash of light just as Jiroubou broke through the door.

"What the heck!" yelled Tayuya.

"Tayuya!"

"They're gone," whispered Sakon.

"Heh heh, The game has begun!" laughed Kidoumaru.

June stood at the storefront window and looked out at the parking lot and the two figures on bicycles riding away at top speed. "Go quickly, girls," she whispered to herself, "They're coming fast."

Yay! That was pretty long compared to my normal chapters! I'm going to try and make you all happy by making the chapters nice and long and keeping the author's notes pretty short (or I'll try anyways.) Next chapter goes up as soon as I get five reviews. Thanks for reading! Oh, and everyone who read the preview for Beautiful Sasuke vs. Me that was on my profile while I was gone, I'm sorry, that story will not be going up for quite a while because I have a major case of writer's stupid (that's like writer's block except I can think of all kinds of things to write, they just all keep coming out stupid). Don't forget the three R's (see beginning of story if you forgot what they are).


	2. Chapter 2

**So apparently you are all ignoring my demands for reviews. Well that's just fine with me. I want to post this story. Eventually someone will _have _to review. I bet no one is reviewing because they think it's another one of those jinchuuriki stories; you know, normal kids with demons inside them who meet Naruto or Gaara and fall in love… Well it's not. Those stories are so overdone and I will _never_ write one. But please review!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any products which can be used to color hair other than some pink glitter hairspray that doesn't work.

_Hello Mrs. Cleaver, you look lovely today._

_-Eddy Hascal_

Chapter Two

The Color Purple

Sunday, January 28, 2007 

_Florida, 12:26 PM_

_Tori's house_

Tori sighed into the phone. "Paige, you do realize that you could be in immediate danger, right?"

"Immediate danger from what? It was probably just a publicity stunt,"

"Publicity stunts usually involve people seeing them, people who are interested in the thing being advertised. You did notice that there were a total of five people in the costume shop, right?"

"Tori-"

"And another thing, publicity stunts do not involve the summoning of demons-"

"Come on! They didn't actually summon demons. They use lighting effects and hidden projectors for publicity stunts!"

"Which brings me back to my original point: publicity stunts are done in front of hundreds of people, in this case anime fans. There were five people in the store, only two of which are anime fans!"

"Okay then, it's that trapped in TV Guide show where they set up a situation from a show and then secretly film you."

"Paige! I'm not stupid! I already thought of that! That store has the worst set up for hidden filming. There is almost no lighting _and there is no where to hide!_"

"Why do you think of these things? No one else on earth goes into a store and says "Judging by the layout of the store it is impossible for some one to be secretly filming me"? And have you ever heard of a two-way mirror?"

"I do! And of course I've heard of two-way mirrors! And I know how to detect them!"

"And again I repeat, what kind of a freak goes into a stores and checks to make sure all of the mirrors are one way?"

"Could we stop picking apart how much of a freak I am and get back to the original point of this conversation?"

"That you're being overly paranoid? No one is out to get me."

"Except for these people! Luckily you are leaving tomorrow which will make it harder for them to follow you. I'm going to be at your house in less than an hour, okay?"

"I still think it's all in your head…"

"Which doesn't explain why you saw it too. Now how does your mom feel about you dying your hair?"

"_Victoria Maine Sisiar there is no way in the great incinerator down under that you are dying **my** hair because of **you**r paranoid delusions!"_

"Oh well! I'll see you in an hour!" Tori chirped into the phone.

"**_TORI!"_**

****"Buh bye!" Tori hung up the phone on Paige's ranting. "Now then, to get some hair dye…"

Sunday, January 28, 2007 

_Florida, 1:23_

Paige's house 

"Hello there Tori! What are you doing here?" said Mrs. Sirrah as she opened the door. Jumping around at her feet was Bailey, Paige's fluffy white dog. Bailey and Tori had a rather _interesting_ relationship. Bailey enjoyed smelling anything that belonged to Tori and had made some _romantic advances_ so to speak towards her in the past.

"Hi Mrs. Sirrah! Hello _Bailey_. I just came by to run over some last minute details with Paige about the trip." Paige, who had walked up behind her mother now spoke up.

"Oh darn it. You're here."

"Of course I'm here! I told you I was going to be here! Are you not pleased to see me?" Tori began to give a speech about being true to her word before Paige cut her off. "Come on Tori, let's go." She grabbed Tori by the arm and dragged her down the hall to her room. "Okay, so what's going on?" asked Paige, shoving Tori into the room and closing the door behind her. "We need to dye your hair. Since you're practically albino you're kind of hard to miss. We want to make you less noticeable so I went to the store and picked up some temporary dye. It lasts about three days, depending on how well you wash your hair afterwards. So once you get to D.C. you can just wash it out." Tori reached into her purse and handed Paige the packet of dye. "Okay, that's pretty smart. But how are you going to talk my mom into dying my hair black?" Tori smiled a semi-evil smile. "You just leave that to me, Paigey-kun. I have special gifts in this area." Tori walked to the door and stuck her head out. "Mrs. Sirrah, could you come here? I have to tell you something."

Paige's inner self was screaming._ JUST TELL HERANYTHING BUT THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!_

"Yes Tori?" said Mrs. Sirrah. As she came to the door Bailey bounded up behind her. He dashed into the room and began sniffing Tori's purse.

_Tori if you screw this up I will murder you and give your bones to Bailey!!!_

"Well, not so much something to tell you as something to ask you…"

_You are going to be so dead beyond dead!_

"Actually, it's kind of an ask slash tell thing…"

_GET ON WITH IT TORI!!_

"Well you see, Paige and I-"

_DO NOT SAY ARE BEING STALKED BY ANIME CHARACTERS!!!!!_

"-Had a little bet about who could raise the most money for our graduation ceremony at school and we agreed that the loser dyed their hair black-"

_That is one of the lamest excuses I have ever heard…_

"Let me guess," said Mrs. Sirrah, "Paige lost and you want to dye her hair?"

"Exactly! It's only temporary dye. Once she washes her hair it will come right out!"

_This is where she says no and crushes all of your hopes and dreams. I told you so. I win!_

"Sure! I don't see why not!"

_WHAT????? _

"Thank you Mrs. Sirrah!"

Tori grabbed Paige's arm and steered her back into the room, skipping as she went. "Okay! Let's get started!"

"How did you do that?" Paige asked in disbelief.

"My dear, dear Paige, it isn't magic if you know how it's done! I have special gifts! Plus your mom _adores_ me!"

"As does my dog. So how does this work?"

Tori squinted at the intructions on the packaging. "Um… We wet your hair then- No wait… Oh, first we mix the powder with water. It will make a substance about the consistency of hair gel. We then wet your hair and work in the dye. See! It's simple!"

"So…"

"Go soak your head. I'm going to mix up the dye. We'll do it in here."

Ten minutes later Paige sat in her desk chair eyeing Tori uneasily. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course I do! Just sit back, relax, and in time you will look like a creepy Goth girl!"

"Okay…"

Tori grabbed the dye and began working it through sections of Paige's hair. "The thing about your hair is that since it's so light it will show through the black, so I might have to go over the same section a couple times."

They sat in silence for a while as Tori messed around with Paige's hair. The wind whistled through the open window. Tori turned to look at the window out of habit. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Paige," she whispered, tapping Paige on the shoulder. Paige turned to glance at the corner. "Yeah, I see it too." By the window stood a semi-transparent black figure. As they watched it disappeared again. "Gosh, I hate it when that happens," muttered Tori. "It's okay now though. He left again," said Paige to reassure her friend.

"All I want to know is why we can see things that other people can't. What are we?"

"Never mind. It's gone now. And it's not like we can ask anyone about what it is. They'll commit us." Paige said.

"Yeah, I know," said Tori as she went back to Paige's hair. "I wonder if that's why they were looking for you…"

"Than why weren't they looking for you too? We both know that you see things more often than I do."

"It can't be for that then. How would they even find out? You haven't told anyone about it but me."

"I don't know. Let's just try to forget about it." Tori rolled her eyes in frustration. Whenever this kind of stuff happened Paige just shrugged it off as a result of not getting enough sleep, or an optical illusion. All Tori really wanted were answers, but as Paige pointed out there was no where to get answers. She reached for the bowl to finish the last section of Paige's hair. "Okay, we'll stop talking about it. You know, this stuff works well. Your hair looks really black. Now all I have to do is the last section. Oh crap!"

"What?"

"Never you mind! I can fix it!" Tori reached for a blow drier and began to dry Paige's hair while frantically mumbling to herself under her breath.

"Tori what did you do?"

"Nothing!" said Tori quickly as she continued drying.

"Let me see what you did!"

"Okay! All done!"

Paige ran to the mirror and screamed. "VICTORIA!!!!!!"

"Yes?" Tori asked nervously.

Tori had run out of dye. Three quarters of Paige's hair was as black as Neji's, but the last section beside Paige's face was still platinum blond! "TORI! I LOOK LIKE CRUELLA DE VILLE! YOU CAN TELL THAT YOU DYED IT AND I'M MORE NOTICEABLE THAN EVER! WHY DID YOU DO THAT"

" It was an accident! I ran out of dye because I had to use so much!" Paige began searching her desk for something hard to throw at Tori. "Wait! Wait! I can fix it!" Tori ran to her purse and rummaged around until she found a shiny purple tube. "See! Watch!" Tori opened the tube and brushed two streaks though the blond section of Paige's hair. She then took the last smudges of dye from the bowl and brushed it through Paige's eyebrows. "Now you just look like a punk! If you wear black mascara know one will be able to tell that it's dyed." Paige turned back to the mirror. There were now two purple streaks through the blond part. "Okay, that looks pretty cool… What's that purple stuff?"

"It's hair mascara. You can take it with you to touch up the purple parts. I'm sorry that I ran out of dye."

"It's okay."

There was a knock on the door and Mrs. Sirrah walked in. She began talking in a distracted way. "Tori, you need to be getting home. Paige needs to finish packing. We're leaving as soon as Devan gets back. He's down the street at Adam's house." Then she noticed- "Oh my goodness! Paige!"

"Yeah, I know…" Paige braced herself for the lecture about personal appearance that was sure to follow.

"Oh well at least it isn't permanent. Tori, if you get your stuff I can drive you home. It looks like it might rain."

"Okay, Mrs. Sirrah. Thank you!"

As Tori turned to get her purse Paige gawked at her. "How do you do that?"

**Well, that's another chapter down. The next chapter is where it starts getting good. But I will become discouraged if I don't get any reviews. I would like to thank my lone reviewer, byakuhana. Byakuhana, I have written you a song (sing to tune of Love Me Hate Me by Lady Sovereign):**

**_Byakuhana you are so awesome_**

_**Your kind words have made my soul blossom**_

_**Since you reviewed, thank you!**_

**_And as for the rest: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!_**

**A note: this is the replaced version of chapter two. I said something really rude in the old version and I decided I should go back and change it. I'm sorry! It's just it makes me so sad when I don't get any reviews. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sit in my corner and cry out of loneliness. If you want to make me feel better just click the pretty purple box!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hmm… I see that I am still being ignored. Why is it that no one is reviewing? If you don't like it just flame! I actually appreciate flames, I feel that they help my writing (for instance, ahem trombonista, if you tell me my characters are too OOC, then I will work on getting them back in character.) So please review! Your reviews help the quality of my writing!**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or my brain, seeing as it wandered away some time ago and hasn't come back yet. _

_If it tastes good, it is trying to kill you._

_-Roy Qualley_

Chapter Three

Would you like fries with that?

_Tuesday, January 30, 2007_

_A highway in North Carolina, 1:13 PM_

_Paige's van_

"Hello, Paige, are you awake?"

That would be Devan. They had been driving since Sunday afternoon and were planning on arriving in D.C. the next day. Paige couldn't wait to get out of the car. Even with her iPOD to help her ignore him, Devan was driving her crazy. He had finished all of his advanced Calculus homework and therefore lacked entertainment. Thus, he decided to turn to his younger sister to fill the void. Paige opened her eyes and glared at him through her still black and purple hair.

I swear if he asks me to let him listen "I Like To Move It" one more time I will hurl him into next Tuesday!

Devan opened his mouth to talk despite Paige's "back off nerd" glare. "We're going to be stopping to eat soon, so be ready to get out of the car."

"Okay." At least he wasn't bugging her any more. The whole drive the day before he kept on "borrowing" her iPOD to listen to the same song - over and over and over again. Then when she wanted to talk to him to ease her boredom he completely ignored her. She was almost to the point of wanting to murder him. He was just so annoying with his little anti-social geek act and how every so often he would make a crack about her Tori-dyed hair. _Tori_. There was another person who was currently on her list. Paige had scrubbed her hair in the motel bathroom last night, but the dye didn't come out. She was going to kill Tori if it didn't come out. It wouldn't be so bad if the dye job had actually protected her from Tori's delusional ideas of "danger", but so far her new Goth look had only attracted attention, not diverted it as Tori had claimed it would.

That was probably why she was so on edge, all of Tori's talk of the Sound Four being out to get her. She usually loved road trips and got along with Devan pretty well when she was on them, but now… What possible explanation could there be for four _anime characters_ "stalking" her? Four _dead_ anime characters. According to the Naruto manga, the Sound Four shouldn't even be capable of stalking her. It's rather hard to shadow someone when you are dead after all, not to mention trying to stalk someone if you don't even exist. That was the killer part about the whole thing: _they don't exist._

Paige thought for a moment. _You know I never got into these kinds of situations before I met Tori._ Paige's Inner self was _really_ upset. Paige herself was usually pretty good with handling things that annoyed her. Her happy go lucky attitude helped her take things like Tori' psychotic tendencies, Devan's annoying nerd rants, and life in general into stride. However, on the inside was a little opposite personality Paige, someone who loved girly-ness, longed for male attention, and threatened to blow up anything that got on her nerves. Sometimes it would be a conscious fight for Paige to keep her subconscious from coming out and making her opinions known. And at times like this little Miss Opposite of Paige would attempt to take over.

"Hey Paige?"

"Yeah Devan?"

"Can I borrow your iPOD?"

_Aaeeeyyahhh!!!!!!!!_

_Tuesday, January 30, 2007_

_Somewhere in North Carolina, 1:23_

_Burger King_

Paige got out of the van and stretched her arms above her head. At last they could get out of the car! The four of them walked to the door of the Burger King building. There were only two cars in the parking lot, including the Sirrah's van. A bit odd, especially considering that it was about lunchtime.

Paige's mother had lagged behind a bit with Paige while Mr. Sirrah and Devan walked inside. She kept on casting glances at Paige's hair, as if wondering why she had let Tori anywhere near her daughter's head.

Once Paige walked into the building she realized why no one was there. Half of the ceiling light fixtures were burned out and of the six still intact three were flickering. Old wrappers lay on the tables. At one table there was an Annikan Skywalker toy, still wrapped, left over from a kid's meal in 2005. Flies buzzed around the cash register and out of the corner of her eye, Paige thought she saw something slither into a trashcan.

"Ken, this place is filthy…" hissed Mrs. Sirrah.

"Amy, I'm starving. This is the only place to eat for about five exits. We'll just order to go."

They walked to the unmanned counter. "Hello, is anyone here?" called Mr. Sirrah, glancing around. "Sorry!" said a teenage boy, crawling out from under the counter. "I dropped my glasses and I couldn't find them. May I help you?" Paige peered at him suspiciously. He looked oddly familiar. The boy slipped his round framed glasses onto his face and adjusted his silver-blond ponytail. _That's kinda weird. First the Sound Four, now a Kabuto look-alike at Burger King. Okay, this is just stupid! This is purely coincidental! Tori's getting to me, that's all._ Mr. Sirrah placed the orders for the family. Then he and Devan went back to warm up the car. Mrs. Sirrah and Paige went into the bathroom. Paige fiddled with her hair in the mirror for a few minutes, then gave up and left the bathroom. She walked to the counter to grab their orders. As she walked up she saw the bespectacled boy messing around putting tops on the sodas they had ordered. "You didn't have to do that," she said "Don't you usually have the customers get their own drinks?" The boy glanced up and smiled. "I know, but I'm trying to get employee of the month." Paige grabbed the sacks of food and began to leave. "Bye then. Good luck with that."

"Have a nice day!"

After a few minutes Mrs. Sirrah got back in the van and they were on the road. Paige finished her burger and started on her soda, but decided it tasted somewhat funny, like it was flat or something, and decided not to drink the rest. The rest of her family finished their food, then stuffed their trash into one of the bags. After a little while Mrs. Sirrah leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Devan also leaned back to sleep. It was going to be a long drive. Paige reached for her book. She scanned the paragraphs to find where she had left off.

_What mattered was that she found some evidence to implicate_

_Mabry, something that would prove that she had poisoned the_

_other fey, prove it not just to Ravus, but to Greyan and anyone _

_else who thought Ravus was behind the deaths,_

Paige blinked. She couldn't remember who Mabry was, or Greyan. She went back to reading, trying to push away her confusion.

_"At least it's warm in here," Ruth said, walking into the apartment_

_and turning around on the marble floor. Her voice echoed in the_

_nearly empty rooms. "If we have to be cat burglars, I'm going to_

_see what's to steal in the fridge."_

Paige shook herself. Apparently this tiredness thing was catching. She felt confused, even though before lunch she had known exactly what was going on in the story. She looked back at the page.

"We're trying to find evidence that she's a poisoner. Just a 

_thought before you start putting random things in your mouth."_

_Ruth shrugged and walked past Val._

Paige stuck a slip of paper in the book to mark her place. She looked at the sword on the cover for a minute, then opened back to her page. Her eyes began to droop, but she didn't fight it. _I'll just close them for a moment…_

The car drove on.

_ Tuesday, January 30, 2007_

_Highway in North Carolina, 6:58_

_Paige's van_

Paige shifted in her sleep with her eyes still closed. Something hard and rectangular was under her head. "Mmm…" Gosh_, what's that on my pillow…?_ She squirmed around trying to get more comfortable. _Cold… Where's my blanket…? _Paige tried to stretch her legs out and kicked the wall. _Huh? Since when do I have a wall by my bed…? _ After a moment-_ Oh yeah, I'm still in the car…_ She rolled over to go back to sleep, but something struck her. _If I'm still in the car, why isn't it moving?_ Paige opened her eyes and glanced around. Devan was still out cold. Her mom was also asleep. She heard little snoring noises. _Who is that?_ Paige sat up quickly. The white van was parked on the side of the highway. A few cars went by, but the highway was almost empty. She squinted at the dashboard clock in the growing gloom. It was almost seven. Apparently there wasn't much of a rush hour in North Carolina. Then Paige looked in the driver's seat. Her dad was lying asleep, his legs stretched out in front of him. He was snoring.

Paige began to worry. It was getting dark and she was in the middle of nowhere with three people who looked almost comatose. They were supposed to be in D.C. tomorrow. Why on earth would they all fall asleep? Why had she woken up and they hadn't? Something rose unbidden to her brain.

_Sodas._

Paige turned to Devan. "Hey Dev, wake up," she said, pushing on his chair a little bit with her foot. Devan didn't move. "Mom?" Mrs. Sirrah merely moved her head.

_Kabuto._

"Dad? Dad!" Paige began shaking him. He merely smiled in his sleep. Paige panicked. "_WAKE UP! WHY WON"T YOU WAKE UP?" _Paige was scared. What was wrong with her parents? They lay asleep, her mother still holding the bag of burger wrappers.

_Poisoned._

Paige grabbed her mom's purse and tore through it, searching, searching… The cell phone! Paige grabbed the phone and hit the green button to turn it on. The formerly black screen began to glow. _911… 911…_ Paige hit the buttons without glancing to make sure she had typed the right number. She hit talk. Nothing happened. _End call… 911…_ Again the phone was silent. Paige typed the number a third time and looked at the screen. _Looking for service_ flashed across the screen.

_Poisoned. Sodas. Kabuto._

Paige fumbled on the floor for her dad's phone. She turned the switch on. _Looking for service._ Paige panicked. Tears were beginning to leak out of the corners of her eyes. She threw the phone back on the ground and began to search Devan's backpack for the cheap phone that they shared.

_Kabuto. Sodas. Poisoned_

She pulled the phone out and flipped the cover open. The screen flickered green for a moment, the eyes of her chibi Gaara background stared up at her. She remembered how Tori had stolen the phone form Devan a couple months ago and changed the background. The screen went black. He still hadn't noticed that she had changed it.

_The screen was black._

Paige frantically hit the call button. The phone was still dark. She opened the back of the phone then put it back on. That sometimes worked. Nothing.

_Sodas. Poisoned. Kabuto. _

Paige yanked her door opened and jumped out of the car. "_HELP ME!!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!!" _A black SUV with tinted windows bounced along blasting Eminem. Paige ran after it a little ways, crying for help. The car sped away. She could see the driver laughing. Paige strained to see through her tears and looked down the road in the opposite direction. No cars were coming. It was dark. The sun had set and only a shot of dying pink still lit the sky. Paige ran back to the car.

_Kabuto. Poisoned. Sodas._

Paige had torn open the glove compartment. Suddenly an image flashed in her brain. The boy. Smiling. Fixing their drinks. Lying through his teeth.

_Kabuto._

_Poisoned._

_Sodas._

Tori's words came back to her. _"Paige, you do realize that you could be in immediate danger, right?"_

_Kabuto poisoned sodas._

Paige grabbed the contents of the glove compartment. A flashlight and three flares that were left over from her father's last fishing "expedition". She reached deeper into the box and found some matches. She ran into the dark and lit one of the flares beside the car.

_"I wonder if that's why they were looking for you…"_

The flare burned with red fire for a few more seconds, then flickered out. Paige began to reach for a second flare, but decided to save it. Instead, she turned on the flashlight and began waving it, shouting for help the whole time. She thought she saw headlights, but it was only her flashlight reflecting off the eyes of some unseen animal.

Another image flashed through her mind. Something had slithered into the trashcanSnakes slither. _Something had slithered into the trashcan. _A snake. A snake in Burger King.

_Kabuto._

Then in a flash it all made sense and it seemed like Tori was more right than she had ever been in her life.

_Kabuto poisoned the sodas._

**I think that that was really quite good. If you agree please review. If you don't review Paige could be alone in the dark forever. Please don't leave her alone; she's afraid of the dark. Thank you so much to my four reviewers! I will now sing a song for you! **

**March in a circle round and round**

**My song makes a happy sound**

**Clap my hands both up and down**

**For all the happy things I've found!**

**I thank God for bECCA!**

**I thank God for swimsensation94!**

**For byakuhana and Troublesome Natalie!**

**My reviewers who make me smile and sing!**

**I wrote about twelve verses about random things like sake, rocks, and (of course) Lee, but I don't want to bore you by writing them all down. Thank you for reading and please review! Maybe then I'll write a song for you too! Toodles!**


	4. Chapter 4

I see where this is going now. If you all had your way I would never get to post this. Unfortunately for you, this is part one of a trilogy, and I am really looking forward to writing the end. Please review!

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the city of Atlanta, although I have visited it and liked it quite a lot. _

_Disclaimer, too: Just in case anyone wants to report me for abuse of something, I do not own any of the people, books, songs, poems, or sayings that I quote in this story, nor do I make any profit off of them. They are merely there to add to the story. But most of the books that I quote are pretty good, so you might want to read them anyways. _

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the fine line between sanity 

_and madness gotten finer?_

_-George Price_

Chapter Four

Answers and Insanity

Tuesday, January 30, 2007 

_A highway in North Carolina, 11:39 p.m._

_Paige's van_

Paige shivered. She was sitting on the ground outside her van with her eyes closed. The flashlight's battery had almost burned out and it was getting colder. She had checked on her family in the van several times, but they hadn't stirred. They were still breathing normally and their coloring was fine. She was so worried though. What kind of poison had he used that it was this effective?

A single tear slipped down her face. Paige normally wasn't much for crying or for being scared. It just went to show how circumstances affected people. Tori was big into that kind of thing. She loved to find out why people did what, what motivated them. She wanted to major in psychology someday. One night Paige had asked her why she wanted to learn so much about psychology. Tori had simply said, "Psychology is about learning to understand people. If I learn to understand other people maybe I can learn to understand myself." Then she changed the subject and started talking about the new boy in her youth group.

Tori had once said that what she was the most scared of was herself. She wasn't scared of dying, she wasn't afraid of snakes, she wasn't afraid of lightening or fire or sharks. What she feared was her own mind. Paige didn't get what she was talking about at the time, but a few weeks after that strange things had started happening, especially when she was with Tori… She didn't want to admit that anything was going on. In anime when people started having _things_ happen to them, it would mean that they were the new keepers of a secret pendant, or the reincarnation of a priestess. In the real world when _things _happened to you, you got carted off to the Psyche Ward. So Paige dismissed all of the weird things, everything that she "saw", every weird feeling as being a side effect of too little sleep. It was a perfectly reasonable excuse since she really didn't get that much sleep, but Tori remained convinced that what they were experiencing was real. Tori hadn't really told Paige _why_ she thought it was real. Maybe it was just another unexplainable Tori thing, like her obsession with Lee. Whatever it was, Tori always got a strange look in her eyes whenever Paige mentioned voices or waking dreams. Then she would go on a kick of madly tearing through every encyclopedia that mentioned ESP, mental illness, or dream science.

But now this wasn't a dream. Paige was alone on a highway in the middle of nowhere with a dying flashlight, a car full of her senseless family, and no Tori to try to figure out what was going on.

And now something was rustling in the bushes. Who would it be this time? Dosu? Kin? She turned the flashlight toward the bush.

And it was dark. Paige was alone on a highway in the middle of nowhere with a _dead _flashlight, a car full of her senseless family, and something, presumably with night vision, watching her from the bush. She had to see! She reached for another flare, lit it, and threw it at the undergrowth where the rustling was coming from.

_"Yeow!"_

A scream filled the silence of the night.

_"Ow! Ouch! Damn that's hot! OOOWWW!"_

A figure crashed out of the bush, but the expiring flare only revealed the silhouette of a spiky haired boy. Paige jumped into the van and turned the key, flipping the brights as she did so. And there, blinking in the glaring light stood Uzumaki Naruto.

"What the…" muttered both Paige and the ninja. They both wore countenances of confusion. Hers was out of shock. Another anime characters, turning up at another odd time, once again trying to convince her that she was crazy. And his… Paige wasn't sure why he was so shocked, but he was cautiously approaching the van, like he had never seen one before. Of course! He _had_ never seen a car before! This was about to get very interesting…

"Uh, hey, excuse me…" Naruto was knocking on the window. "Uh, can you come out or something? I need to talk to you." Paige hesitated, then reached for the door handle. This couldn't be anyone but the world's number one blond hyperactive knuckle-headed ninja. She opened the door slowly then stuck her head out. "Are you Naruto?"

The boy smiled his signature grin then tucked his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and replied. "Yep! That's me!" He opened one eye and peered at her curiously. "You aren't a fan girl, are you?" Paige fought the urge to laugh. "No, not really."

"Crap… I was kinda hoping since you know who I am that you would be a fan girl."

"Since when do you have fan girls? Isn't that Sasuke, Neji, and Gaara who have fan girls?"

"Exactly! And now even Sai has fan girls! It's really annoying! I mean, I'm just as cool as they are!"

Paige gave Naruto a look. "Surely you aren't here just to ask if I'm your fan girl?"

Naruto resumed normal posture. "Yeah! Are you Sirrah Paige?"

Now this was odd. He knew her name and was saying it backwards. "Uh, yes, I am, but here we say Paige Sirrah. Why do you ask?"

"So can I just call you Paige?"

Paige was beginning to realize why he didn't have any fan girls. "Yeah, sure. And _why_ are you here? And what is wrong with my parents and Devan?"

Naruto put his hands to the window of the car and peered in. "Yeah, old lady Tsunade said this would probably happen. Kabuto gave them and you a mild poison to cause sleep, but for some reason it had full effect on them but not you. What did you do differently than them?"

Paige thought. "Well, they drank all of their sodas but I didn't. Could it be that I didn't get the full dose?" She handed Naruto her half-empty cup. He sniffed it.

"What is the stuff?" He started to taste it.

"You do realize that that's probably poisoned, right?"

He looked at the soda and then her. "Yeah, I'm just wondering what this stuff is." He jiggled the cup and bubbles fizzed up again. "Couldn't you tell this stuff is poisoned? It's bubbling like boiling ramen."

Paige smiled. "Naruto-san, soda _always_ bubbles."

"Oh." Naruto smiled. "I want to try some."

"Maybe I'll buy you a can someday."

"It comes in cans?"

Paige rolled her eyes. At this rate she would never find out what was going on. "So why are you here?"

"Right! The Fifth received information that Orochimaru had found people in another dimension that are capable of doing jutsus that no shinobi can do. He had also found a way of entering this dimension to capture these people and use their jutsus. My mission was to find these people and track them. But the she didn't say what to do if Orochimaru got here first. So, I have only found you who _has_ chakra in the first place, and then Kabuto poisons you before I can do anything about it."

"So now what?"

"Well, we're just going to have to get to Konoha before one of the Sound nin come to get you."

"And what about my parents? And my brother? Are we just going to leave them on the side of the road?"

Naruto weighed this in his mind. "Hmm… I was just going to teleport you and me back. I wonder if I have enough chakra to do them and us… Maybe… No, you don't know how to manipulate your chakra…"

Paige leaned against the van. She wasn't sure just how to take this. _She_ had _chakra_? And Orochimaru _wanted_ her chakra? _Why?_ It seemed that Tori's streak of being right was still going strong. Naruto's voice shook her free of her thoughts.

"I think I figured out how to do this! Here we go!"

He made some hand signs and there wasn't _there_ anymore. The dark highway was gone.

_Wednesday, January 31, 2007_

_Konoha, 2:09 p.m._

_Hokage's office_

Paige blinked in the early afternoon light. She, Naruto, and her entire _car_ were in Tsunade's office. And there, in the flesh sat the Fifth with a bottle of sake in her hand ready to pour.

"Welcome back Naruto. I see that your mission was a success, but what _is _that _thing?"_

"That's Paige. She's not that bad once you get to know her."

_And I could say the same for you._

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "That's nice to know, Naruto, but I meant the _other_ thing."

"I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it almost blinded me."

Paige decided to speak up before Naruto made an even bigger fool of himself. "The Fifth, I'm Paige Sirrah, and that's my car. My family is inside of it. Right now they're unconscious because Kabuto poisoned them."

Tsunade looked at the car. "He probably used a mild dose of hemlock, cinnamon, and thyme. If the antidote is administered within twelve hours it is completely harmless, but all the same they could be unconscious for about two weeks."

"What does the poison actually do?"

A quirky smile danced across Tsunade's lips. "Well, if no antidote is administered, than the affected person gradually goes from a comatose state to a silent death. It can take years in some cases to kill you."

Paige shivered as she realized the full extent of the fate that they had narrowly escaped.

"Naruto," said Tsunade, "Could you please take Paige's family to the hospital building? You can go get ramen when you're done. I need to speak with Paige. Privately."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

"Don't worry. In a week or two they'll be fine. And with any luck they won't remember anything about this."

"Um, the Fifth,"

"Yes…" said Tsunade as she shifted a mountain of paperwork.

"Why does Orochimaru want me? What's so special about me?"

Tsunade glanced at her over the papers. "We aren't exactly sure yet. My source didn't have very much information about that."

Paige spoke again. "Naruto-san mentioned that there are other people like me…"

"Yes, we don't know their identities though. And…"

"I think my best friend might also be one. This weird stuff has been happening to her, too."

"Have you been spending time with her recently? Do you have anything of hers with you?"

Paige nodded. "She was at my house two days ago and she gave me this." Paige pulled the tube of purple hair mascara out of her pocket.

"Yes," said Tsunade as she took the tube. "I can sense a chakra on this other than yours. I will dispatch Team 13 immediately. They haven't had a mission in a while. I want you to brief them about your friend when they arrive."

Paige nodded.

"By the way, what happened to your hair?"

Paige groaned. "Tori tried to dye it."

Tsunade smothered a giggle. "You should probably try to wash it out…"

**There it is! Sorry about any typos, my computer is acting psycho. Please review! Thanks to byakuhana and Troublesome Natalie once again! I heart you guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again. If you have an account but have been trying to review anonymously, please log in. I'm sorry if I'm being paranoid, but the last time I had a consistent anonymous reviewer, it was byakuhana pretending to be someone else. Please log in and review! I could really use some encouragement! Thank you!**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the hearts of my reviewers. In fact, I don't even have any! Except for byakuhana and Troublesome Natalie, but they're my friends; they __hav__e to review!_

Quand un bon vin meuble mon estomac 

Je suis plus savant que Balzac-

Plus sage que Pibrac;

Mon bras seul faisant l'attaque

De la nation Cossaque,

La mettroit au sac;

De Charon je passerois le lac

En dormant dans son bac;

J'irios au fier Eac,

Sans que mon ceur fit tic ni tac,

Presenter du tabac.

-French Vaudeville

Chapter Five

Skydiving into the Rabbit Hole

Thursday, February 1, 2007 

_Florida, 7:02 a.m._

_Tori's house_

Tori was jolted from sleep by the sound of her alarm clock. She crawled quickly to the end of the bed and tried to slap the snooze button on the alarm clock, which was sitting on her desk. But when she was trying to hit the button, she overbalanced and fell off the end of her bed, hitting her head on her desk chair and dragging her comforter and the alarm clock with her.

"Ow…" Tori slowly got up, holding the alarm clock in her hand. The clock was still beeping. "Shut up, you stupid inanimate object…" Tori fumbled with the switches on the clock without success. "Did you know that your mother was a toaster oven. It's too early to be up, you stupid jumble of bolts…." She finally found the right button and turned the alarm clock off. "At last…" She pulled her green blanket off of the floor and crawled back into bed. Just as she had snuggled up again her door was thrown open with a bang. "Tori! Do you want goldfish?" screamed her ten-year-old sister. Tori sat up again, "Knock you pestilence! Don't you know it's the crack of dawn?" She grabbed a pillow of her bed and threw it at Freda. "Jeez! You're grumpy! Why aren't you dressed yet! We're going to be late again!"

"Go away, Fred. If I recall correctly it was _you_ who made us late yesterday."

"So do you want goldfish?"

"No! Now go away so I can sleep!"

Once again Tori attempted to get comfortable. However, now her mother came into the room. "Tori! Get up! We're going to be late and I need to get ready for my sub!" Tori's mom taught at the school. This made it especially hard for Tori to sleep in since her mom needed to be at school on time. She and Tori's dad were leaving that night to go to Aunt Marge's sixtieth birthday party in Texas. Tori was supposed to be staying at Louise's house, while her sisters were staying at other friends houses. Since Mrs. Sisiar was going to be missing school tomorrow, she had to get everything set up for Mrs. Nelson, who would be subbing for her.

"Oh, Mom, I'm tired…"

"Well maybe you should go to bed earlier."

Mrs. Sisiar left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Guess I'd better get dressed then," muttered Tori as she reached for her uniform.

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 7:09 a.m._

_Large tree across the street from Tori's house_

Three people were in the branches of the big tree in the yard of the empty house across the street. One was crouched on an upper branch, another was standing beside him, and one more sat on a branch just over them. "What is she doing now, Neji?" asked Tenten. Neji was crouched on the branch below her, watching the house with his byakugan. "Hn…" said Neji. Lee stood beside him on the branch, fiddling with the pockets on his chunin vest. "I think she is still asleep Tenten-chan. She was up until about two last night."

"Actually, she's getting dressed."

"_Neji-kun, avert your eyes!"_

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 7:10 a.m._

_Tori's house_

Tori had finished getting dressed, although she yawned the whole time. She left her room, backpack in hand, and walked to the empty kitchen. She opened the cupboard, grabbed a bowl, then grabbed the cereal and milk. She poured the cereal and the milk into the bowl, then proceeded to eat standing up. As she drank the last of the milk, she noticed that it tasted kind of funny. She grimaced and went back into the fridge to find the jug. As she pulled it out she read the label. _Expires January 25. _

_Crap. That stuff tastes awful. _Tori poured the remainder of the jug of milk down the sink in disgust. This wasn't her day. She was tired and now she had drank a cup of expired milk. Now that she thought about it, she probably shouldn't have stayed up all night. She had gotten distracted with her latest Naruto-themed project. She was making magnets for her school locker using mod podge, old cereal boxes, magnetic strips, and pictures of Lee. _If Mom knew what I was doing all night she would have a cow. If Dad knew he would kill me. _It was almost as bad as when the last Harry Potter book had come out. Tori stayed up till three reading it and then had to get up early the next day and have lunch with her grandmother. When her mom found out she was furious. Then last week she had stayed up until three emailing Paige. Tori knew she was being a huge hypocrite since she always scolded Paige about not sleeping enough.

Oh well. It was too late to sleep now. Hopefully she would be awake enough to pass her Algebra test first period. It was going to be another boring, Paige-less day.

Thursday, February 1, 2007 

_Florida, 7:20_

_Tree_

"That's not good."

"What's not good Neji?" asked Tenten. She had been re-coiling her hair into its usual two buns.

"Oh, she just drank a bunch of spoiled milk."

"Gross. She'll probably be sick all day."

"Yeah. Now they seem to be getting ready to leave."

Lee looked down from another branch. He had decided to climb up and down the tree as fast as he could for agility training. "Neji-kun, are Tenten-chan and I ever going to see this girl? We have been watching her all night and you are the only one who has seen her."

Neji spoke as her continued to watch the house. "Lee, the Fifth instructed us to watch Sisiar Tori, find out if she has any chakra, then bring her back to Konoha if she does. Assuming she has chakra, you will get to see all you want of her eventually."

Tenten glanced toward the house. "Or you could just see her right now. She's getting ready to leave."

All three shinobi turned toward the house in time to see Tori walk out. She put her bags in the burgundy minivan, then turned toward the carport to grab the recycling bins. She carried both bins to the edge of the yard and set them down. As she straightened up, she stared directly into the branches of the tree. An unreadable expression passed over her face, and then she turned back and got into her car.

"Whoa, do you think she saw us?"

"Maybe. It's hard to tell."

Lee was standing in silence watching as the car pulled away.

"Well now you've seen her Lee. Let's go. We need to follow that car."

Thursday, February 1, 2007 

_Florida, 3:15 p.m._

_Yale car_

Tori sat in the trunk of the SUV filled with fourth grade girls. It was after school and she was riding with her sisters' basketball team to their practice. It was a school league team, but he school had recently dropped the bus service because of the budget, so the kids had to get rides with parents who volunteered to take them. The team practiced at the community center, so Tori decided to hitch a ride so she could run a few laps on the half-mile track there, then get a ride home with her dad. Her sisters would be riding home with their two friends who had volunteered to take them for the next couple of days. Tori still needed to pack her bag, and then Louise was going to pick her up at home.

Tori tightened her ponytail. She was training, not only to run the mile for PE, but also to beat Paige. Paige was naturally athletic and had been since she was a little kid. What Tori wanted very badly was to be faster than Paige. But there was something else that nagged at her mind when she was training, something that said that her subconscious knew something that she didn't know, that she had a reason for this need to be strong, other than her competitive side. Sometimes, late at night, when Tori was feeling particularly crazy, she would spar with an imaginary opponent, or try out her sword fighting moves. When she did this something in her always seemed to be coaching her and saying _'Good job, you're going to need to know how to do that _some_ day.'_ When it said this, Tori had no idea what her brain was talking about. But Tori had the imagination of Lewis Carol, and she always thought that someday, maybe she would find out something… Something that would change everything… And secretly she wanted that.

Tori was jerked out of her day dreaming by their arrival at the basketball courts. She followed the sea of girls out of the car. Once she had climbed out, she waved to her dad, then set out for the track. The track was the same red clay that was on baseball fields, but it had been beaten down so that it was solid and didn't blow dust everywhere. Sometimes if it rained it would be slippery, but other that it was a nice track. It was shady because it wound through the trees. Where it started near the courts, it looped by the road, but the backside was quiet and secluded. Tori liked to se the animals that lived near by as she ran. So as the girls got out the balls and began their attempts at dribbling, Tori turned and began to run down the track.

Thursday, February 1, 2007 

_Florida, 3:45 p.m._

_Tree by the mile track_

Lee felt stiff. They had been watching Tori all day and most of the watching had been done in trees. They didn't have big trees here like they did in Konoha, so in order to stay hidden they had to crouch. Lee tried to tell himself that it was training, but that didn't work to well. What he liked best about following Tori had been the times that they had to chase the cars that she was riding in. The only tree on the school grounds that was big enough to hide three teenagers was quite a ways away from the building that their quarry spent most of her time in. Thus, Lee still hadn't seen Tori up close except for the brief glimpse that morning, but leaves had blocked most of her face.

Now this was going to make him even more miserable. He had to sit completely still and quiet and watch while someone else ran laps! He needed movement!

"Neji-kun, what is she doing?" That's what he had been doing all day: asking Neji what she was doing.

"She's still running."

"Really your kind of girl, isn't she Lee?" said Tenten in a teasing voice as she rummaged through her pouch.

"What did you say, Tenten-chan?"

"Oh, nothing Lee."

"What about now, Neji-kun?"

"Now she's sprinting."

"You should just give up on Sakura, try Tori."

"Tenten-chan, I really cannot hear you."

"What the-!"

"What happened?"

Tenten and Lee both turned toward Neji. He was still staring off with his byakugan. "Someone has stopped her. We need to go investigate. Let's go!"

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 3:50 p.m._

_Track_

Tori stood completely still, breathing heavily with her shoulders squared. Facing her on the track was a boy a couple years older than her with long white hair and circles over his eyebrows. He was wearing his shirt so that it fell off of his shoulder. His hair fluttered in the slight breeze.

"_Kimimaro…"_ hissed Tori. Kimimaro was a boy with great genetic abilities that he used to manipulate his skeleton into weapons. He had been (according to the Naruto manga) one of the prime candidates for Orochimaru's new body. Tori had once drawn him on her friend Kate's English folder. Kate thought that he was the coolest drawing ever, until Tori explained that Kimimaro was a boy and he was evil. Then Kate became disenchanted.

Kimimaro faced her with no expression on his face. "Hello, I'm to take you back to Orochimaru-sama by sunset, although I don't know what he wants with trash like you."

Tori's brain was whirling. He wasn't real. He was talking to her. He was dead. But still he was telling her to come. "Excuse me! You have the nerve to insult me and then expect me to come with you? You're a freaking drawing!"

Kimimaro looked at her coldly as he reached for a bone to use as a katana. "Orochimaru-sama didn't specify that you had to be alive, he can extract jutsu from a dead body, too."

Neji, Tenten, and Lee sat in another tree just above Tori. They had jumped from tree to tree to get there. "Neji, we can't just leave her there! She doesn't know how to protect herself!" Tenten exclaimed in anger.

"You heard him Tenten! If we try to interfere he will definitely kill her and us!"

"Neji-kun, I have fought this person before, we have to help her in some way. Although…"

"Although what?" growled Neji.

"He died during the fight. I do not know how it could be that he could still be alive."

Tenten glared at Neji and Lee. "Surely we can do _something! _Think, Neji, _think!"_

"Okay," replied Neji, "Shikamaru is better at this kind of thing than I am, but I'll try. In all the time that we've been watching Tori I've noticed some things about her reactions to outside substances. Remember how she was using that glue stuff all last night?"

Tenten and Lee nodded impatiently. "Well, Hinabi sometimes makes projects with that stuff. If you are exposed to the fumes for an extended amount of time you get high. Even walking by her door I get dizzy.

"But in all that time last night Tori remained perfectly normal." Tenten gave him a "get on with it" look. "Then this morning when she drank all that rotten milk. Any of us would have been throwing up all day. But again, Tori was perfectly fine.

"But throughout the day, Tori had very extreme emotional reactions that were caused by anything from conversations to food."

"So? Hurry up Neji!"

"Basically any outside influence affects her differently than it does normal people. Her reactions are very extreme."

"Like Lee's to sake?"

"Exactly. If we were to give Tori any sort of alcohol she would have an extreme reaction in one way or - Tenten what are you doing?!?"

Tenten had pulled a bottle out of her pouch, written something on it, and thrown it at Tori.

"Tenten, what did you do?!?"

Tori and Kimimaro danced about in a deadly waltz as he tried to stab her with his katana of bone. Tori managed to dodge each time, but it was becoming more difficult. He wasn't even trying to hurt her at this point.

"Why don't you just surrender? I will bring you back to Orochimaru-sama alive. He won't harm you. He is a wonderful master. Maybe he can even turn you into a decent shinobi."

"Shut up! You're freaking supposed to be dead!"

Kimimaro went directly for her heart. Tori bent over backwards almost in a backbend to avoid his sword. She had worked long and hard with Paige learning how to do that move. Now it looked like she would have to use it. Adrenaline laced with fear coursed through her. She snapped back up as Kimimaro came around in an arc for a second strike. She ducked and rolled away, taking him out with a low kick designed to knock him over. As she quickly got up into a crouch, she noticed a small bottle on the ground. She grabbed it and sprang to her feet, dodging once again as Kimimaro ran at her. His momentum carried him forward giving her time to read the slip of paper tied to the bottle. She untied it and stared at the still-wet brush strokes.

_Drink me._

Under the paper, a sign was printed on the bottle. Tori knew she had seen it before, but she couldn't remember where. _Drink me. _She was in _Alice in Wonderland _now. Kimimaro ran at her again, crouched low this time as he swung at her feet. Tori jumped vertically as high as she could then tried to spin in the air so that she wouldn't land by Kimimaro. She landed lightly like a cat. Or a Cheshire Cat. _Drink me._

Crap, what did she have to lose? She was being attacked by an anime character that wanted to kill her. If he was real, she was dead. If he weren't real, she would be committed to a mental hospital. What would it matter if she was poisoned? On the off chance off her being in Wonderland, the contents of the bottle would help her. _Or make mer twenty times more or less my normal size._

This was pure insanity. She pulled off the cork and raised the bottle quickly to her lips. It smelled odd and tasted… It made her gag and caused her vision to blur. Through the cloud she saw Kimimaro run at her once more. Her blood seemed to get as hot as flames and static electricity filled her limbs. Her body kept moving wildly, although her vision was leaving and she had no control.

Then just as she blacked out, she remembered where she had seen it before.

_Sake._

_Welcome to the rabbit hole._

**Sorry if my description of the taste of sake wasn't accurate. I'm not of legal age, so I don't know what it actually tastes like. I don't think this chapter was all that good, so please be completely honest about your opinion. Guys, please, please, please tell me if that was okay! I'm dying of insecurity because people keep on reading this without reviewing! PLEAAASE!!!!!!!! But I will be grateful for what I have now. Byakuhana and Troublesome Natalie, thank you for your faithfulness! Guys, please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Hi everyone! I realized a few days ago that Fan Fiction doesn't always put things in bold or Italics how I type them. So if things aren't correctly printed, I tried to fix it. Please bear with me! However, I have good news! But I won't tell you what it is until the end of this chapter! Have fun reading!

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am running out of ideas of clever things to say in the disclaimer. Got any suggestions?_

_Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis._

_-__Ralph Waldo Emerson_

_Aaeeeyaaayaaayaaayaaa…._

_Johnny Weismaller_

Chapter Six

Trapped Inside My Head

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 5:03_

_The track_

Mmm… I smell grass… 

Tori was curled up in a ball at the foot of a live oak. She could feel sticks poking her and she was certain that spiders were crawling all over her, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She felt dazed and she couldn't remember why she was lying on the ground. She thought she remembered… No, that couldn't be it. She remembered a boy, and a bottle, and two words. _Drink me._ And she thought she remembered fighting the boy, but that couldn't be true. In this fragment of mist that she could recall she was fighting very well with very _strange_ movements. But that couldn't be. Tori was a klutz, there was no questioning it. Although she did have the strength to fight someone, she had no form or balance. But in her memory she thought she felt _strong_. She had a feeling that she could even beat Lily, who was a freaking brown belt!

It felt a bit chilly now. It had been blazing hot for the majority of the day. _It's getting later…_ Then Tori suddenly sat up. _Oh crap! What if their practice is over? Dad will be furious!_ Trying to shake off the last of her wooziness, Tori got up and sprinted the last quarter mile back to the basketball courts.

"_Tenten, where the hell did you get sake from anyways?"_

"_Hyuga Neji, you are not my mother!"_

"_That's not the point! Why are you carrying sake around in your pouch? You're sixteen for God's sake!_

"Neji-kun, Tenten-chan, if you keep on yelling like that the whole country will know where we are! Please whisper!"

"Yes, oh master of subtlness" muttered Tenten.

"Tenten," hissed Neji "Answer me!"

"Okay, okay, jeez… Tsunade-sama gave it to me."

Now it was Lee's turn to scream. _"You are sixteen!"_

"Rock Lee you are not my mother!!!" 

Neji spoke in an even voice that was filled with tension. "Why… did the Fifth think it would be a good idea to give you … sake…?

"Well…" said Tenten nervously as looked at her angry companions. "You guys can be really aggravating… She said that it always works for her…"

_"Tenten!"_

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 5:30_

_Tori's house_

Tori lay back on her bed with a sigh of relief. She had been just in time. Her father had been still waiting for some parents to come. He hadn't asked where she was and they didn't talk too much on the drive home. He had basketball on the brain, and her lack of memory kept her occupied. Paige was the one who couldn't remember anything. Tori remembered every detail about everything. So why couldn't she remember what she had been doing for the last two hours?

But there would be time to worry about that later. She had to pack. Louise was supposed to be there in fifteen minutes. Tori grabbed her duffel bag and turned to her closet. She had just finished cramming her clothes into her bag when she heard the phone ringing. She dashed from her room and grabbed the phone on the fifth ring.

"Hello," she said breathlessly into the phone.

"Hello, Tori? This is Mrs. Ink. Louise has just gotten very sick. She has a very high fever and- oh dear, I can hear her throwing up now!"

"So I can't stay with you guys?"

"No, I'm terribly sorry, but I think it may be catching. I don't want you to get it."

"That's okay, Mrs. Ink. I think I can find someone else. I'll just have to tell my mom."

"I'm so glad you understand! Maybe another time then!"

"Okay, bye," said Tori, but Mrs. Ink had already hung up.

Twenty minutes later Tori had called five people. Leah was visiting her step- family in Ocala, Marie and Elizabeth had a late rehearsal for their ballet recital and another one the next morning. Lily hadn't answered her phone, and Abby and Evelyn already had someone staying over that weekend. Finally she had called Rachel and left a message. Hopefully she would be able to stay there. Her parent's flight was leaving at seven and they had already left for the airport. Tori was all alone in the house.

The phone rang again. Tori came out of the kitchen were she had been trying to find the rice cakes. The Mcfarland's number was on the caller ID. Tori picked up the phone with a hopeful smile. "Hello, Rache?"

Hope ran away screaming. She could hear Maria and Allen screaming in the background. "Hey, Tori, I got your message." Rachel sounded harried.

"Can I stay with you guys? Unless Lil calls me back I have no where to go. And the odds of Lily calling me back are rather low. I don't think anyone in her house listens to messages."

Rachel's voice was filled with regret. "No can do, sorry! Allen is having his cleft lip cleft pallet surgery tomorrow. We have to go to Miami again."

Tori smiled a little bit. "I think every hospital staff between here and Jacksonville knows who you guys are. Tell Allen hi for me!"

"I will! After his last hospital stay he kept saying 'Toli, Toli, I want to see Toli!'"

"Aww! That's so sweet! Good luck! I guess I'll just try Lily again."

Tori hung up the phone with a sigh and looked at her cat. "Well Nemo, it looks like we're set for a lonely weekend."

Tori hung up the phone. Lily wasn't home and whoever answered the phone didn't take a message. Tori decided she would just have to call her mom and ask what she should do. As she dialed, she suddenly got the strangest feeling of being watched. She whirled around phone in hand. Nemo was sitting at the window, staring intently into the tree across the street. She was moving to look more closely when her mother answered her phone.

"Hello, Tori, why are you still at the house?"

Tori gave up looking out the window and gave her full attention to the phone. "Hey Mom. Mrs. Ink called. Louise is really sick."

"Did you try Leah?"

"Yeah, they left for Georgia today."

"What about Elizabeth?"

"She and Marie have rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty tonight and another one tomorrow morning."

"Rachel?"

"They have to go to Miami for Allen's surgery. Mom, I tried everybody. No one can take me."

There was a long pause before Mrs. Sisiar spoke again. "I hate to do this, but there's no other option. Do you think you can be by yourself for the weekend? If you aren't comfortable you can always go to the Bone's tomorrow. I'm sure they wouldn't mind having you and Freda."

"No Mom, I'd rather just stay here. I'm sure they don't have room for one more kid."

"Alright, if you're sure you want to. Our section is about to board, so I have to go. Love you! Bye!"

"Bye."

Tori turned back to the window. Nemo had left to do something more valuable with his time. Tori stared at the tree and thought she saw a shadow, but she quickly tried to shake it off. She wasn't going to spend this weekend in complete paranoia. Nothing was in the tree.

In the tree 

Tenten was sitting by herself. Neji was refusing to speak to her. His maturity amazed her. And they wondered why Tsunade would offer her sake.

Neji stood. "We almost have all the information we need. We need to move closer to the house for the final stage of surveillance. Once that has been finished, two of us will go back to Konoha and the remaining team member will begin the retrieval stage of the mission. We're going to move to those bushes by the side of the house. Now, lets go."

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 7:20 p.m._

_Tori's house_

Tori sat down on the couch with a cup of ramen in hand. She had finished all of her homework and was going to do some reading. She set the steaming cup down on the table and reached for her book. Mrs. Quiggle had assigned a project for history last month that required reading a book by an early American author. Tori had selected Edgar Allen Poe and quickly became addicted. She loved his dark sense of humor, his insight on insanity, and the overall suspense of his stories. She ended up buying a volume of his collected works and was now reading through it. Yes, Poe was great reading- during the day. But now Tori was on edge and "The Tell-Tale Heart" wasn't doing much to soothe her.

If she were going to be like this all weekend it would kill her. She had turned on almost every light in the house and closed all the blinds, but the feeling wouldn't go away. She finished off her ramen and went to throw it away. What she needed was to face her fears. She tied up the trash bag and moved to the door. She would go outside to the trashcan in the dark without a weapon other than her own hands and feet. If that wouldn't convince her that nothing was out there than nothing would. She smiled, squared her shoulders, and walked to the door. It was a quiet night. The moon and stars were covered with purple clouds. Tori put the bag in the open trash can, but she couldn't find the lid. She fumbled for it in the grass and finally found it. As she straightened up, a car's headlights briefly shone on the yard as it drove by. Tori gasped and ran back into the house. She slammed the door shut and turned the lock. There was a pale face in her bushes.

_Okay, pretend to think logically for just a moment. Why would there possibly be someone hiding in your bushes? _Her mind flashed back to last Saturday with Paige… The Sound Four! _Okay, more logical thinking. No one in the Sound Four is that pale, and besides, they don't know about me. They only know about Paige._ Tori was tearing through the drawers in hr kitchen trying to find a weapon. All of her knives were pretty much useless. They were all either too big or too small to actually be used in combat. What she needed was a sword or something. _Or a katana. _Then she remembered he boy's face. And what he held in his hand. _Kimimaro. The bone katana._ There was no doubt about it now in her memory. _"I'm to take you back to Orochimaru-sama by sunset…" _They knew about her too!

What was she going to do? She couldn't live in fear like this! She would not be a cowardly schizophrenic who spent her life hiding from her demons! No, she would be a brave (_or stupid_ said her brain) schizophrenic who went out and bashed her monsters over the head with a frying pan! She grabbed the one suitable knife she had found in the drawer and opened the door to her fears.

There was nothing there.

_How the hell can I face my fears when they aren't there? _

Tori jumped at the ringing of the phone. It rang three times as Tori stared at it. The caller id had a local area code, but the name only read "Unavailable" Finally, she reached to answer it.

"H-hello?"

'Hello there," hissed a male voice that sounded suspiciously reptilian. "I'm looking for Sisiar Tori."

Fear shot through her. She responded quickly. "Sir you have the wrong number! Good bye!" She slammed the phone down and stared at it. _There is no way Orochimaru is calling my house. It's just Matthew pranking me again. Just calm down. Chill. Everything's okay. I just need to distract myself._

"I think she saw you, Neji. Good job. Now she's terrified."

Neji glared at Tenten. He was still mad about the sake. "I think she was a little bit on edge before that, thanks to a certain bottle of alcohol that fell from the sky. Someone just called her. She looks pretty upset now."

"No doubt she wouldn't have been so upset if she hadn't seen a floating head in her shrubs!"

Lee sighed. Every once in a while Neji and Tenten would get into lover's spats like this. When they did it was impossible to talk to them. If he even tried to put in a word edge wise they would both turn and bite his head off, and then go right back to their fight. If he just waited long enough the argument would usually tide itself over. _It is only a matter of time…_ It would be a long night.

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 10:54 p.m._

_Tori's house._

Tori had been trying to distract herself for the last two and a half hours. She had decided that some mindless entertainment would help, so she had turned on the TV. Anything that was the exact opposite of Orochimaru would do. But the only non-paranoia causing show was a "Suite Life of Zach and Cody" marathon._ Talk about mindless. It's just the same plot over and over again…_ She reached for her glass of water. _As soon as this is over I'm going to take a shower. I've so had enough of this! Give me a Psych marathon any day!_ _Oh! Cold!_ As usual, Tori had managed to spill ice cold water down the front of her shirt. She brushed the droplets off as the laugh track played. _Stupid show. Stupid water. I'm not even waiting for it to end. I'm going to shower right now. _

"That's weird…" Neji laughed a little bit. Apparently this was more of an amusing weird in his mind than Tori's version of Drunken Fist.

"What Neji?"

They had finally made up and were speaking civilly to each other again. Lee was relieved.

"She just spilled water all over herself, but her shirt isn't even wet. It looks like she just brushed it off."

"So she is water repellant?"

"It would seem so. Okay, stage one of the mission is now complete. Lee, Tenten and I are going to teleport back. Your mission is now to inform Tori what is going on and get her to the portal. Got it?"

"Roger, Neji-kun!"

"Good luck then, Lee!" said Tenten. She wrapped her arms around Neji's waist and waved goodbye as they disappeared in a flash of smoke.

"Stage two, begin."

Tori wrung the water out of her hair in the steamy bathroom. It was so hot in the house. Mr. Sisiar liked to keep the windows open during the "winter". Florida technically didn't really have winter, but her father thought of winter in a northern sort of way. So the Sisiar family had to suffer through no air conditioning in eighty-degree winters so that Mr. Sisiar could maintain his illusion of seasons.

_Thump. _

Tori's ears pricked up. _What… the hell… was that?_ She opened the bathroom door as quietly as possible and peered down the dark hallway. Her bedroom door was open and she could see the very faint light from her desk lamp. Someone was in her room.

_Someone was in her room!_

Tori ran into the kitchen on tiptoe, completely silent. She grabbed her knife off of the counter and cautiously moved back to her room. She padded silently up to the door and looked inside.

There was a man in her room. The light from the desk was dim and she couldn't see any of his features. His back was toward her; he seemed to be looking at the pictures on her wall. _I can't be afraid. This will not take me down. _

She sneaked up behind him and aimed a kick towards his head. "_What are you doing here?!? Get the hell out of my house!"_ Her foot made a connection with his upper back. He was knocked forward a bit, but in reality it made no difference. She brandished her knife as he turned towards her. She felt dangerous. She was a tiger, and this was her territory. He was dead.

"What… are… you… doing… here?" 

**Well then! I guess you'll have to review to find out who it is! Poor you! Now then, about that good news… Here it is: FIVE PEOPLE REVIEWED LAST CHAPTER!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! I would like to thank hmjane, rockleefan, byakuhana, Troublesome Natalie, and PrettyKitty! Special note to rockleefan: When you reviewed for "Free Falling" you asked why the brunette eyelinered girl had a brick. Well guess what! The two girls at the end of "Free Falling" are indeed Tori Sisiar and Paige Sirrah! And you will find out next chapter of **_**this**_** story why she has a brick!**

**(If you're wondering what on earth I'm blabbing about just read "Free Falling". And no, this isn't a sequel to "Free Falling". Paige and Tori didn't really… Never mind. It's just the same characters. Stop asking questions! If you're that curious just read it!)**

**One more thing. I would like you all to welcome PrettyKitty (a.k.a. Prettykitty8) to Fan Fiction! PrettyKitty has been my pen pal for the last three years. I recently told her about Fan Fiction, and she loves it (I think)! Everyone say "hi" to her, please! **

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey. I just re-read the last chapter and in my opinion it wasn't all that good. I'm sorry that it was so bad! This will be better! I promise!**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do have some fan art pics of him that are absolutely kawaii!_

_When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane._

_-Hermann Hesse_

Chapter Seven

Hallucinations with Coffee

_Thursday, February 1, 2007_

_Florida, 11:57 p.m._

_Tori's room_

She glared through the dark veil of her wet hair. Whoever this guy was he was going to get it. How dare he enter her house! How dare he be striding around her bedroom like he owned the place! And most of all, how dare he presume to think that she would allow him to harm her! She would stand up to him if it killed her! He had tried to hurt Paige, no doubt, and now he was going after Tori! "If you hurt her I will kill you…" she growled. Then for the first time the man turned to face. Her breath suddenly grew shallow as she looked into a pair of black eyes that she would have never thought to see.

"I am sorry! I did not mean to frighten you! Please forgive me, Tori-chan!"

"_What_… Are… you doing here…"

_Pretend think logically! Pretend to think logically! Don't go all fan-girl-y, just focus!_

_Okay. I'm focused. Now then. __**Rock Lee is in my bedroom!**_

Indeed, there in the center of Tori's floor stood Lee, resplendent in all of his spandex clad glory.

Suddenly Lee's face flushed. "I'm sorry Tori-chan!!!" he yelled as he clapped his hands over his eyes. "I didn't realize that you will dressed like that!!! I will leave while you get dressed!!!"

"What!!!"

Lee started to run into the hallway with his hands still over his eyes. He ran straight into the doorframe.

"Would you mind telling me what is going on?" asked Tori furiously as she stepped in front of him.

Lee peeked at her face through his fingers. "I'm sorry, Tori-chan. I did not want to embarrass you by staring at your apparel," Tori glanced down at her pajamas and flushed. Her legs were exposed and the top button of her nightshirt had managed to pop open again. _Well isn't this just a sublime first meeting? Well, at least he's being polite, in a strange sort of way. He can't have gotten too good of a look. _"Well, I will just leave so that you can get dressed…. "

"Wait a moment!" yelled Tori. "You still haven't bothered to tell me what the hell is going on! You aren't leaving this room until I do!" _He could be some sort of "Anime Slasher" serial killer and not really Lee. I can't let him out of my sight until I figure out who, or what he really is!_

"But… But… Tori-chan…"

"No buts," said Tori firmly. Lee's face went an even darker hue of red beneath his fingers.

"Please Tori-chan, at least go in the closet…"

"Did you think I would go somewhere other than the closet?!?"

"Gomenasai, Tori-chan…"

Tori slammed the door of the small closet closed behind her, then sank to the floor. _I am such an idiot. I just met him and I'm already cursing at him. Why did I act like that? Now he's going to hate me! He'll think I'm a total bitch! Why do I always act like that? What would Paige do? _Paige would think that none of it was real and that she should go to bed earlier. Paige would think she was hallucinating and it was all in her head. _What was it that Mrs. Lucas said about hallucinations and mirages? She said that a mirage is caused by the meeting of very hot air and very cold air. A mirage can be photographed because it is an optical illusion. But a hallucination cannot be photographed. __So that's it! If he's real then I should be able to take a picture of him! Brilliant! Now where is my damn camera?_

_Thump. Bang. _"Oww!"

Suddenly Tori jumped, fully clothed, out of the closet, camera in hand.

"Hey, Lee! Smi-"

But Lee had turned away from the closet and was examining her desk. Tori crept up behind him to see what he was looking at. Random junk was all over Tori's desk. Fan art, pictures from a recent class trip, earrings, a brick, chopsticks... Lee had just picked up her brick and was looking at it closely. Tori rose onto her toes to glance over his shoulder.

"Erm, Lee..."

Lee turned around to look at her, but misjudged the distance and accidentally bumped heads with her.

"Oww..."

"Forgive me for saying so, but you have a rather hard head, Tori-chan."

"Same to you..." Tori muttered. _Great job. Now he thinks you're even more of a bitch... _"Sorry..."

"Oh, it is all right. It was my fault for not being more careful!"

_Wow! He's so nice! And even hotter in person! What are you talking about? How can a drawing be hot? And how can he be a person? We haven't established that he isn't a hallucination yet!_

"Um, Tori-chan?"

Tori snapped to attention. "Yes?"

"Why do you have a brick on your desk?"

"Um, well, you see, I found him at school during PE. I carried him around with me during class for a few months until Olivia took him from me and threw him over a fence. Paige and I had to conduct a rescue mission after school to get him, and I decided to bring him home so that Olivia couldn't hurt him anymore." Tori began to blush. Now she was rambling and talking too fast.

"Him?"

"Yeah! His name is Brick Lee!" _You shouldn't have said that. Why are you always such an idiot around boys? Now he knows you're obsessed with him! What are you talking about? Who says he's even real? And if he is a person what makes you think he is actually Lee?_

"I see! How youthful!"

_Okay... Bricks are youthful... That's something no one has ever said before. Usually it's "How dangerous!" _

Lee had moved on. He set down the brick and picked up another object. This time he picked up a clay model that Tori had made. A clay model of himself.

"So Lee," said Tori as she picked up the camera again. "Could you-" As she turned to look at him she saw that he had found her doll. _Damn. Now he's going to think that you're a _crazy_ bitch._

"Lee?"

But he had already put down Clay Lee. "Come, Tori-chan. I need to talk to you."

_This is pure insanity. There is an anime character in your house, when he plainly isn't supposed to be here, isn't even supposed to be alive in fact, and you are worried about what he thinks about you. _

_Have you ever thought of how insane you are? I mean, think of it, the Phantom made a doll out of Christine, too..._

Tori was standing in the corner of the kitchen messing around with the coffee maker when Lee came in. She kept very deliberately quiet as he sat down by the counter. "Tori-chan, I really am very sorry."

Tori turned to face him. "Lee-kun, what is going on?"

Lee looked surprised. "You do not have to call me that. Just Lee would be fine."

"Then you don't have to call me Tori-chan."

"Yes I do! You are a woman! It is a matter of respect!"

"And you don't think that anyone should respect you?"

"No! It is just that you especially deserve respect!"

"Oh really. You still haven't answered my question. What is going on?"

Lee thought for a moment. "I am not sure exactly how this happened, but for some reason Orochimaru-sama has heard of your abilities."

"What abilities? How does anything in my life have anything to do with Orochimaru?"

"I am not sure. But for some reason, you and Paige-chan can do things that other people cannot do."

"Why?"

"Because you both have chakra."

"Chakra? No offense, but I've done some research about special abilities and from the look of things what Paige and I have is more along the lines of ESP in addition to mild schizophrenia. "

"But Tsunade-sama thinks differently. She has been doing some medical research with Paige-chan and she thinks that you definitely have chakra."

"Paige is there?"

"Yes. After she left here she and her family were waylaid by Kabuto-kun. Naruto-kun found her and brought her back to Konoha. She told Tsunade-sama that you also had abilities like hers. So Tsunade-sama sent my team to retrieve you before Orochimaru-sama did."

"So now what?"

"We are to go to Washington D.C. where a portal has been set up to take us back to Konoha since I can't use chakra to teleport back like Tenten-chan and Neji-kun have already done."

"Wait, Neji was here?"

"Yes he was."

"_Was he the one I saw in that bush???"_

"Yes, he was…" Lee was squirming uncomfortably.

"_I will kill him!!! He scared me half to death!!!!"_

"Tori-chan! Don't hurt him! You have not even met him yet!"

"I told you that you don't need to call me Tori-chan!"

Lee decided to try a new approach. " Tori-chan, did you know that in Japanese your name means bird? Surely a bird is worthy of respect…"

Tori smiled a little bit. "But Tori isn't my real name."

"It is not?"

"Nope!" said Tori, smiling impishly. "My real name is Victoria. In English Victoria means victory."

"Then you must be respected!"

"Well then, I must respect you too since in English the word "lee" means shelter or protection!"

"Victoria-chan! Please just call me Lee!"

"What do you mean Victoria-chan? Just call me Tori like everyone else does!"

They were still arguing in a friendly sort of way when the phone rang. Tori went to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Sisiar-chan. It's me again."

Tori screamed and slammed down the phone.

"Lee! That was Orochimaru! We've got to get out of here!"

**Yes!!!!! It took me the better part of a month, maybe even two months, but I finished the chapter! From here on out it should be much easier! Thank you to everyone for you support and patience! Thank you to all of my reviewers: Nemo 131, my newest reviewer (say hello to them!); TakeTenEyes, my dear onee-san and beta-ee; Cross 177, who is so supportive of dear Lee-kun; Troublesome Natalie, my dear buddy; rockleefan (I owe you so big! Thanks for your help!); PrettyKitty8, who is now officially a member of Fan Fiction; and of course, byakuhana, who didn't take the time to review the last chapter (ahem), but she still helped me with my writers block. Thank you all! Ha ha! Chapter seven is complete! Now I have to write chapter eight…**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yes! I am making progress!!! I have made it out of the dark despair of my writer's block! Now, I must warn you, this chapter is mostly fluff, but it is required fluff. We won't be able to get to the next point of the story if we don't have some fluff now (look on the bright side. At least I'm getting all of those cotton balls out of my system!). So sit back, relax, and get ready to gag (or laugh. Whichever comes naturally). Speaking of romance, I don't think that any guys are reading this. If you are a guy reviewer, speak up so I don't continue to drown you in fluff! Now then, shall we begin?**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own a neon green Pygmy Puff. _

_No sane man will dance._

_-Cicero_

Chapter Eight

Security

_Friday, February 2, 2007_

_Florida, 3:43 a.m._

_Airport_

The shuttle bus had just arrived at the entrance of the airport. Tori stood up, stretched, threw her messenger bag over her shoulder, and strode off to the entrance, Lee trailing behind her with a green duffel bag. The last three hours had gone by in a blur. After the phone call from the "mysterious" snake man, Tori immediately ran to her room to throw some clothes and stuff into a bag. She and Lee then ran to the nearest bus stop. After seven more stops, the bus finally took them to the airport shuttle bus service, which in turn took them to the airport. Now they stood at the entrance, safe, for the time being.

"Erm, Lee," asked Tori, "How are we going to pay for the tickets? I only have what money that was already in my bag. That's probably about twenty dollars at most."

"Oh there is no need to worry, Victoria-chan," said Lee brightly, "Neji-kun already thought of that. He has given me plenty of money for both of our tickets."

"That's great! I guess I will forgive him for the head in the bush thing then!"

They approached the lone woman still at the flight desk. She looked at them through bleary, suspicious eyes. Most of the kids that came to the airport at this hour were runaways. "May I help you?" she growled.

"Yes!" began Lee enthusiastically before Tori interrupted him.

"Let me handle this," she muttered to Lee. Lee nodded agreeably and gave Tori the floor.

"Good morning," said Tori to the still scowling woman. "We would like to purchase two tickets to Washington D.C."

"Why?" she asked, staring at Lee, who was looking at the odd airway décor.

"It's an anime convention," said Tori quickly.

"Whatever," said the woman, "but you'll have to wait around for a while. I can't sell tickets. You'll have to wait until morning."

"Technically it is morning," muttered Tori.

"I heard that. No tickets until someone gets here who can legally sell them to you. Now go wait on the bench like a good little girl."

"Thank you for your help, oh youthful madam," mumbled Tori as they walked away.

It was now six thirty. Lee had spent the time alternately sleeping and bouncing up and down to work off his energy. Tori tried to calm him down by giving him a Death Note manga to read, but Lee found Matsuda to be a bit disconcerting. Finally he took to running up and down the escalators. "Aren't you even a little bit tired because of the time difference?" Tori asked him. Lee thought for a moment, then replied, "Yes, but tiredness is youthful." And with that he went right back to his running.

Tori, who had briefly fallen asleep, awoke to find that a line had formed at the ticket counter. She turned to look for Lee and discovered that he was on the bench beside her.

"We can get our tickets now, Victoria-chan,"

"What happened to your running laps?" Tori asked groggily.

Lee grimaced. "That grumpy woman at the desk said that she would call security if I did not stop."

Tori glanced over to see "that grumpy woman" walking past them. Apparently her shift had ended. She glared at Tori and Lee.

"Have a nice day," said Tori sarcastically.

She gave Tori a dirty look. "Same to you. I'm sure that crazy little boyfriend of yours will be loads of fun."

"He is not my boyfriend," growled Tori defensively.

"But he is crazy." The woman smirked and pointed at Lee. He had walked away and was carefully examining a baggage claim carousel. He would approach it cautiously, then jump away when it moved. The woman chuckled maliciously.

"Leave him alone!" exclaimed Tori, her voice rising. "It's his first time in an airport!"

"Then he'll have _lots_ of fun, won't he?"

"Go to Michigan, jerk."

All the same, once the woman left, Tori was filled with apprehension.

A few minutes later Lee rejoined Tori. He did not talk about the carousel experience, but seemed to be deep in thought. As they reached the counter, Tori elbowed him to bring him back to reality. The man at the counter looked at them expectantly.

"Good morning," said Tori, "we need two one-way tickets to Washington D.C."

"You're in luck. Air Tram is flying to D.C. in about an hour. I can give you two tickets for two hundred dollars,"

"Oh thank you! You are so much nicer than the woman who was here earlier! We'll take them!"

"Two hundred dollars then,"

"Lee," muttered Tori, nudging him with her elbow.

"Ah, hai, hai…" mumbled Lee as he dug through his chunin vest. Tori and the man looked at him expectantly. Several people in the line behind him were beginning to get impatient. Finally Lee dug out a Hello Kitty shaped money pouch from one of his pockets. People stared at him strangely as he began to count out coins. Finally he finished, pushed the pile of coins across the counter and said, "Thank you for waiting, youthful sir! Here is 24598.02 yen!"

The man stared at him in disbelief. "Sir, we can't accept yen,"

"Are you sure, sir? It is the only money I have! Neji-kun specially gave this to me to buy tickets!"

The man turned to Tori "What's going on?"

Tori thought fast. "I'm very sorry sir! He's my cousin. He just flew over from Japan to stay with me for a few days. We're supposed to be going to meet up with his parents in D.C. His brother, Neji, was supposed to give us money to buy tickets, but apparently they forgot that they would need to exchange their money!"

The man stared at Tori. "He's your cousin?"

"Yes, sir,"

"You don't look Asian."

"I'm not. He's adopted."

Tori sighed as they stood in the security line. They had finally gotten the tickets after a good deal of finagling; the man at the counter had wanted to call the Japanese embassy. Luckily they managed to talk him out of it. Now they were in the security line. Lee was attracting all kinds of looks from people. Next to him, Tori's jet-black studded attire looked positively tame. As they finally reached the front of the line, Lee began to look nervous. "Victoria-chan, what is going on?"

Tori looked at Lee for a moment. Then she remembered. "Oh yeah! You've never been in an airport before. This is the security line. We go through it and they put our bags through the x-ray."

"What is an x-ray?"

"It's a machine that can check to make sure that we aren't carrying weapons or anything else that's dangerous." Suddenly she thought of something. "You didn't bring any kunai or shuriken, did you?"

Lee looked insulted. "Of course I brought them! Tenten-chan would be ashamed if I did not bring weapons on a rescue mission!"

Tori's face fell as she turned away from Lee. She began to mutter under her breath. " First the yen, now this… I'm traveling with the first Japanese terrorist… Why… Why… That idiot Neji… Planning the whole mission out perfectly… Well he forgot a few very important details…"

"What did you say, Victoria-chan?"

"Never mind, Lee. Here, let me help you."

Tori grabbed two plastic bins from the front of the line. She placed her bag, shoes, and belt in one bin and motioned for Lee to do the same. Then she stepped through the security archway. The green light flashed and she walked through. She then picked up her stuff and put it back on. "See? It isn't that hard. Now you do it."

Lee slung Tori's duffel bag into his bin, took off his sandals, and began to try to take off his belt, but the knot was stuck. He struggled with it for a moment, but finally left it on and stepped through the arch. The alarm went off immediately. The security woman motioned for him to go back. He removed his belt, and then stepped through again. The alarm went off again. Lee stepped back, removed his weapon pouch, and then stepped through again. The alarm went off again. The security woman was beginning to get aggravated. Tori had hidden her face by pretending to look for something in her bag. Lee stepped back, took off his leg warmers and removed his metal leg weights. He stepped through the arch again. Once again, the buzzer went off. "Oh, yes, I forgot…" said Lee. He began to unwrap his arm bandages, removed the two long knives that he had secured underneath, then stepped through the arch again. This time the buzzer did not go off. But the security woman frowned at him. "No, you're coming over here." She began to steer Lee towards a separated area. "Victoria-chan, what is going on?" Lee called to her. Tori moved toward him hesitantly. "They're going to search you."

"But why?" he whispered as she caught up to him.

"I don't know, maybe because you smuggled in several weapons on your person and tried to pay for our tickets with foreign currency."

"But what is wrong with that?"

Tori groaned. "Never mind. Just go get searched. I'll explain it later."

And with that she turned on her heel and left to go to the gate.

Tori sat by herself at the gate. Her eyes were beginning to water. This was insane! She had been up all night with a boy who had entered the house via her bedroom window! Now she was at the airport with said boy trying to get to Washington D.C. because an anime character wanted to kidnap her because she had chakra! That wasn't so bad. But now Lee was a suspected anime terrorist and she was alone waiting for him. She couldn't board the plane alone! She had no clue where to go! She pulled out her iPOD and scrolled through it looking for her sad music. She had just found it when someone sat down next to her. She looked over at Lee. "Hey," she said quietly.

"I am sorry Victoria-chan. They said that I could still fly. I got your duffel bag for you."

"Thanks," she murmured.

"What are you listening to?"

"Here," Tori handed him one of her headphones.

He put it in his ear and began to listen. After a bit he said, "This is a very pretty song. What is it?"

Tori showed him the screen. "Oh," he said. "I have never heard it before."

Tori smiled a little bit. "That would stand to reason. I don't think that this sort of music is usually played in Konoha."

"I like it,"

"It's my favorite song. It reminds me of my best friend."

"Paige-chan?"

"Yes."

"Victoria-chan, you are crying!"

"Just a little bit. It's no big deal. Airports bring out the worst in me."

Lee grabbed Tori's hand. "What are you doing?"

Lee smiled. "I'm going to teach you how to dance. It will make you feel better!"

Tori blushed. "Oh no! Don't! I can't dance!"

"That is why I am going to teach you!"

He guided Tori through the steps perfectly in time to the music. The dance was so simple, but yet it seemed so complex. The only time Tori had ever danced was for square dancing in music class, but this was completely different. Lee spun her around ever so gently. He somehow managed to keep them close enough together so that the headphones wouldn't fall out of their ears, but far enough apart that they weren't slow dancing. _We must look crazy dancing to music that only we can hear._ People were beginning to board the plane. Sometimes someone would glance over out of curiosity, but they would look away when they saw that Tori was crying. As the final chords played, a voice over the microphone said, "Now boarding section E,"

"That's us," said Tori.

"Then let us go."

And they turned to board the plane.

**That was quick! Men, I forgot what it felt like to know what you wanted to write! As I said, that was mostly fluff, but it was necessary fluff! Next chapter should bring things back to normal! Now then, to thank my reviewers! I know that not everyone has reviewed yet because it's summer and they're on vacation without a computer, or they're grounded for failing a math test in summer school, but I would like to thank those who have reviewed! Thanks to TakeTenEyes, rockleefan, Cross 177, and Nemo 131! And now, this for rockleefan!**

**rockleefan: (has just broken into Tori's house) (goes to phone and dials 1471) **

**Orochimaru: Hello?**

**rockleefan: Is your refrigerator running?**

**Orochimaru: Yes.**

**rockleefan: Than go and catch it!**

**Orochimaru: (hangs up)**

**rockleefan: (redials)**

**Orochimaru: Hello?**

**rockleefan: Do you have Prince Albert in a can?**

**Orochimaru: STALKER!!!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!! (Slams phone down)**

**rockleefan: That was fun!**

**If you want to know what I'm talking about read his (her?) review. The next chapter is coming soon! Thank you for reviewing!**


	9. Chapter 9

**My my! It's going so well! I've been taking a couple days break from writing due to certain events (the release of **_**Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows**_** for instance! Whoot whoot! And no, I won't give away any spoilers! All I'm saying is that it's very, very good, lives up to the hype, and I cried about six times during the course of the book.) But I have finished reading it and now I'm back (not that you actually noticed that I was gone, except for maybe TakeTenEyes)! Anyways, here we go!**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I might be a superhero! See if you can guess my secret identity!_

_One good thing about being a man is that men don't have to talk to each other._

_-Peter Cocotas_

Chapter Nine

Talking

_Friday, February 2. 2007_

_Washington D.C. 10:40 a.m._

_Airport._

Tori and Lee stood at the airport entrance waiting for a cab to come. Getting off the plane had been relatively painless since they didn't have to go through the baggage claim. Tori had managed to fall asleep on the plane for the first time in her life. She was now feeling much better.

Lee stood beside her silently. He had been sweet the whole ride, letting her sleep and not mentioning anything having to do with yen. He had been very quiet and hadn't done anything else that could be considered a possible act of terrorism. Once they arrived at the airport, Lee immediately called the taxi service. Now as the taxi pulled up to the curb, Lee chivalrously helped her in. He whispered an address to the driver who raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn't comment on the location. As they pulled out of the departure area, the driver started chattering animatedly. But somehow the noise felt awkward to Tori. Lee seemed distant, as he had since they got on the plane. Was it because of her crying? Did she get snot on his jumpsuit? Was he embarrassed? _Damn men and their feelings or apparent lack of them!_ But Tori didn't have long to stew over this. The ride only lasted about ten minutes. Lee began to pull out the Hello Kitty pouch again, but Tori stopped him. "I have enough to pay for the cab," She forked over the necessary payment, and climbed out after Lee. Only once the cab had left did she get a chance to look around.

"Where are we?"

The area that they were in was completely deserted. Graffiti covered the walls. The only sign of life was a single cat. Lee began to walk towards a phone booth. Tori raced to keep up with him. "You first, Victoria-chan," he said as he motioned for her to step inside. The inside of the booth was completely ordinary. Nothing marked it as special in any way except for the fact that it was in such a remote area. Lee hopped in after her. He pulled out the Hello Kitty pouch out again, and before Tori could stop him, put five-yen in the coin slot.

"Lee, what are you doing? You'll jam the phone!"

Lee grinned at her. "No I will not, Victoria-chan. This was set up by Tsunade-sama."

"What?"

Before Tori could continue, something began to happen to the phone booth. Before, Tori and Lee had barely managed to fit in the phone booth at the same time. Now the walls were slowly expanding to accommodate the glowing, translucent circle that was growing inside of he booth. When it grew to the height of a doorframe it stopped. "What is this?" Lee smiled again and took her by the hand. He gently touched the surface of the glowing disc with his hand. The surface trembled like water and began to ripple into green. "Come, Victoria-chan!" With that he led her through the circle into nowhere.

_February, 3, 2007_

_Konoha, 1:00 a.m._

_A forest_

And suddenly they were in the middle of a huge forest. The trees were bigger than redwoods; Lee was just barely taller than a nearby root. Amid the roots stood a phone booth identical to the one that they had just exited in D.C. It was dark here, but somehow the darkness still felt safe. "Where are we?" Tori asked in wonder. "This is the most gorgeous forest I've ever been in!" Lee smiled at her reaction. "We are in the forest just outside of Konoha. We will have to walk a little bit to get to the city."

"I don't mind!" said Tori excitedly. "This place is amazing!"

They began to walk toward Konoha, talking as they walked. All awkwardness was gone now.

"So why did Tsunade set up the portal in a phone booth? It really doesn't seem like her type of thing to do."

"Well, a few years ago Gai-sensei found some old _Superman_ comic books,"

"_Superman?"_

"Hai! He loves them. That is how he got the idea for his youthful jumpsuit! He let Tsunade-sama borrow one a few weeks ago. She really likes them! That is how she came up with an idea for the telephone booth."

"Does anyone else in Konoha like _Superman_?"

"No. Neji in particular hates it."

Tori giggled. "So why does Neji use that Hello Kitty bag anyways?"

Lee laughed. "He says that Hinata-chan gave it to him for his birthday and that family protocol says that he has to carry it. But Tenten-chan says that she saw him buying it at a gift shop. He thinks it is cute!"

"That is so funny! I would never expect Neji to do that! Do you tease him about it?"

Lee looked shocked. "Of course not! You should not make fun of your teammates no matter how foolish and girly they act! Besides, pink kitties are youthful!"

Tori went into hysterics.

After walking just a bit farther they arrived at the gates of Konoha. Lee led Tori through the quiet streets until they arrived at the Hokage's office. They went up the darkened stairs toward the door at the top. Lee opened the door into the dimly lit room and allowed Tori to walk in ahead of him. Paige was sitting at the desk with her head resting on the wood. "Paige!" shrieked Tori. Paige sat up slowly; blinking because of the light that Lee had flipped on. "Tori! You're here…"

"You look tired! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't slept much in the last three days. Tsunade has been doing tests on me."

"What kind of tests?"

"Oh, just chakra stuff. She's been doing some research. Basically I've been having mini-lessons on chakra manipulation. I've gotten pretty good at it."

"Of course. You're always good at that kind of thing."

"She's also been asking me questions about you."

"What kind of questions?"

"Just stuff like when we met and how long we've been friends. She wanted to know if I could remember when this stuff started happening."

Tori rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "I'm sure that worked out very well, what with that fabulous long term memory of yours."

"Yeah, Tsunade's been rather frustrated about that. She's been questioning me forever. She finally just told me to write down my memories."

"And you fell asleep?"

"Yep. Our time I usually wake up around now. She told me to do this around five this afternoon. And since five is three a.m. our time I fell asleep about twenty minutes later."

Tori laughed, "No shinobi is a match for your sleeping habits!"

Paige smiled. "So when did you get here?"

"About twenty minutes ago. We used a telephone booth portal."

"Who's we?"

Lee stepped forward. "Hello again, Paige-chan. If you do not mind I need to go get some sleep. My team is going to be training tomorrow and I cannot beat my rival Neji-kun if I do not rest."

"That's fine Lee," said Paige, "see you later."

"Goodbye, Victoria-chan! I will see you tomorrow!"

After Lee left, Paige turned to Tori. "So Lee came to get you. That must have been fun."

Tori groaned. "Oh it was," She began to tell Paige the story of the last couple hours.

"So you must have gotten to the airport around the same time that I fell asleep. Go on,"

When Tori finished, Paige began laughing hysterically. "That sounds like fun! It's your dream day; acting "youthful" with Lee!"

"Stop it! My dream day with Lee didn't involve him sending the airport into code orange and every girl above age thirteen checking him out!"

Paige smiled. "It's still pretty funny."

"Stop making me laugh!"

"Okie dokie! Fire truck!"

Tori started laughing again. "I said stop!" Paige smiled until Tori stopped. "So," said Tori as she caught her breath, "tomorrow, or technically today, we are going to explore the great city of Konoha!"

"That sounds great! I haven't met anyone yet except for Tsunade, Naruto, Tenten, Neji, and Lee. We can meet everyone!"

"Until then, why don't you fill me in on what's going on."

The dark got lighter as the two girls talked the night away.

**Well, that was chapter… is it nine now? That's the longest story that I've written in the history of my writing stories! Yay! So, thanks to last chapters reviewers. And sorry, I know that this chapter was a little bit shorter than usual (actually a lot shorter. About 500 words shorter). But for the good of the story, I think that this works out better. Chapter ten will be coming soon!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So here's chapter ten. I'm sorry that I'm only just now writing it, but it's been difficult for me to get on the computer for an extended period of time (I share this thing with four other people after all). My dad's been home during the day lately instead of late afternoon, and nine to one is my usual writing time. Anyways, here comes chapter ten! Mr. Monk would say that I should just end the story right here, but now that I look at it, I'm over half way done! In fact, I'm about three-quarters done! So of course I couldn't just stop right here! Anyways, now that the whole Tori arc is finished, we can get back to the main subject of my little tale: Paige! So, here's chapter ten! **

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did Sasuke would have died two chapters ago instead of my brother.

_If they put one man on the moon, why can't they put them all?_

_-Unknown_

Chapter Ten

The Adventures of Tabletop and Darkie

_Saturday, February 3, 2007_

_Konoha, 7:30 a.m._

_Tsunade's office_

Paige stood at the window waiting for Tori to get ready. "Tori, you need to hurry up. Tsunade didn't actually give us permission to leave, so we need to sneak out."

Tori grinned, "Number one, Tsunade doesn't actually know that I'm here. She was asleep when I got here last night. Number two, she didn't say that you _couldn't _leave, she just didn't say that you could."

Paige smiled. "Then lets go!"

Paige ran down the hall with Tori following behind her. She nimbly rushed down the stairs. When Tori tried to do the same though, she tripped and fell down about four stairs. She let out a small scream as she fell. "Shush!" whispered Paige as she helped Tori up. "Tsunade would have to be deaf not to hear that! Her office is right there!" She pointed to the door at the foot of the stairs. "Whoops, sorry," whispered Tori. They tiptoed down the final stretch. Once they got outside Tori jumped into the air doing a cheerleading stunt. "Wahoo! We did it! Let's go," she shouted on arriving back on the ground. She grabbed Paige by the wrist and started to run. Paige laughed at her enthusiasm. She ran along with her. "Nice jump by the way. You looked so preppy,"

"Thank you," replied Tori curtly, "you're just jealous,"

_No I'm not! _yelled Inner Paige, _I can do that, plus a million back hand springs! You are no match for my inner preppiness!_

"Hey, wait a minute," came a women's voice from behind them.

"Damn," whispered Tori, "she caught us."

"Don't curse," said Paige.

_Damn it! The fucking bitch Tsunade caught us! I will kick Tori's ass!_

_Excuse me? Who the heck do you think you are!_

_Who are you? _Yelled Inner Paige.

"Paige," Tori was nudging her. Paige snapped to attention. "It's Sakura."

But Sakura was looking at Paige strangely.

_I'm Inner Sakura! Duh! Who else would be talking to you!_

_Well I don't know! What gives you the right to get inside my head anyways!_

_You called me a fucking bitch!_

_No you idiot, I called Tsunade a fucking bitch!_

_And now you're calling me an idiot! I'll get you for that!_

_What the frick! _

"Paige! What's wrong with you two?" Tori started shaking Paige. Paige and Sakura both looked at Tori. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing!" said Paige and Sakura at the same time. They looked at each other and blushed.

_Heh heh, sorry!_

_Shanaro! No hard feelings right? That's never happened with anyone else here. What's your problem?_

_Excuse me!_

_Sorry! Didn't mean that the way it came out!_

_Well, clearly we both have split personalities._

_And those split personalities communicate with each other?_

_I guess._

_Should we tell the girl who's with you?_

_Nah, it's fun to keep her in the dark!_

"Hello!" screamed Tori.

"Sorry, Tori, I zoned out."

Tori looked at her suspiciously. "Yeah, sure."

"Sorry about that, I spaced too," said Sakura. "I'm Sakura. Who are you guys?"

"I'm Paige and this is Tori."

"Oh yeah! Tsunade-sama and Naruto told me about you two!"

"Really?" said Tori. "What did they say?"

"Not much, just that you were here and that Orochimaru is after you." Sakura sighed. "That means that by extension Sasuke is also after you."

"So you still miss him? He completely betrayed your village!"

Sakura looked at Tori strangely. "Of course I still miss him! He was my teammate! I was in love with him!"

_Love?_

_Oh shut up! I was young!_

_And apparently stupid._

"Sorry. Tsunade didn't mention anything about Paige not being allowed to leave her office, did she?"

"No," said Sakura, "If you want I can show you around, you know, introduce you to everyone."

"That sounds good," said Paige.

"Then let's go!"

It was still early. As Sakura led them through the streets they saw more and more people. Finally Sakura stopped in front of a barbecue stand. "Come on!"

"We're going to a barbecue restaurant at eight in the morning?" Tori whispered to Paige.

"I don't think that we're going to eat," Paige hissed back as she rolled her eyes, "she probably saw someone inside."

Sure enough, sitting at a table by the window were Shikamaru and Chouji. Shikamaru leaned back in his chair as he watched Chouji eat. Chouji was chowing down as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. His chopsticks moved as if possessed, snagging every single morsel off of the small grill in font of him. Neither man seemed to notice the girls' approach. Finally, Sakura spoke. "Good morning guys. Did you just get back from your mission?"

Shikamaru looked up at Sakura. "Yeah we did. There's no other reason for us to be at this place this early. Chouji is always hungry after missions." Chouji grunted in agreement. Shikamaru then noticed Paige and Tori. "Hello, who are they, Sakura?"

"This is Sirrah Paige and Sisiar Tori. I assume that Tsunade-sama already told you about them."

Shikamaru looked at the girls again and then nodded. "The Fifth did mention them. Apparently Neji and I are supposed to be analyzing them later. It's nice to meet you." He rose to shake Paige's hand and then Tori's. Chouji waved at them from his seat then went right back to eating. "So," said Shikamaru, "what are you guys doing?"

Paige answered for all of them. "Sakura is showing us around the village and introducing us to people."

Shikamaru smiled a little bit. "That sounds like fun. I wish I could go with you instead of working, but I need to report back to the Fifth about Chunin Exam arrangements. Being a jounin is so troublesome."

Paige smothered a laugh behind her hand as Sakura said goodbye. They left the stand as Chouji ordered more food. Once they got a ways away, Tori and Paige burst into laughter. Sakura laughed along with them. "Aren't they so weird? They've been best friends since the Academy. They still make me laugh!"

Once Tori caught her breath she spoke again. "So where are we going next, Sakura-san?"

Sakura thought for a moment before replying. "Let's go to one of the training grounds. Someone will probably be there."

They walked with Sakura, talking and laughing. Tori stared up at the buildings and almost ran from Paige and Sakura when she saw a white bunny a few yards away. Paige held her back to keep her from trying to pet it. After a bit they reached the training ground. As Tori began to walk forward, Paige and Sakura pulled her back. "What?"

Sakura sighed. "You can _never_ just walk onto this training ground without first checking to see where everyone is. You could get killed."

As she spoke, three kunai and a couple of shuriken buried themselves in the ground by the girls' feet. Just three seconds later, two blurs of green flashed by.

"What was that!?" asked Tori.

"Oh, just the usual training. Tenten throwing things at Neji and two lunatics running laps."

Tori glanced around apprehensively. "So can we walk now?"

Sakura nodded. "Just one thing." She turned towards the trees and yelled, "hey Tenten! It's me!"

"Coming, Sakura-san!" a girl's voice yelled back.

"Here," said Sakura, "let's get out of the youth twins' way." They walked forward a couple yards just as a red clad figure came running out of the trees. "Sakura-chan!" Tenten yelled as she jumped on Sakura. "I haven't seen you since I got back from my mission! I didn't hit you, did I?"

Sakura smiled, "No you didn't. I haven't seen you either!"

Tenten laughed "Sorry about that. You know how Neji is when he does his Hakkesho Kaiten. The weapons just sort of sail off in random directions." She noticed Tori. "Hi, Tori-chan! Sorry about that whole thing at the track!"

"What?" Tori asked. "What are you talking about?"

Tenten twiddled her fingers in embarrassment. "You know… You were running… And Kimimaro attacked you… And then that bottle fell out of the sky and you drank it…"

"And then I blacked out!" Tori finished Tenten's sentence. "What the heck happened?"

Tenten smiled nervously. "Well, you kicked his ass pretty good…."

"After she drank a bottle that fell out of the sky?" asked Sakura urgently.

"Yeah…" said Tenten.

"What was in this bottle?" Sakura hissed.

"Sake…" Tenten gulped.

Sakura stared at her in shock. "Sake? Oh great, not another Drunken Fist…"

"Huh?" said Paige and Tori.

"Anyways," said Tenten, trying to change the subject, "it's nice to meet you face to face, Tori-san. Lee told us all about what happened. It's funny that Neji was such an idiot, huh?"

"You're not getting off that easily, Tenten. We'll talk later." hissed Sakura.

"Okay…"

Before she could say anymore a pale boy stepped out of the trees. "Tenten, are you coming?" asked Neji. "We need to continue our…" He stopped talking when he saw Tori. He glared at her, then turned and walked away.

"What was that?" asked Tori.

Tenten looked after him. "Oh, that's his 'I hate you' face."

"What! Why does he hate me?"

Tenten thought for a moment. "It probably had something to do with what Lee told us. Neji hates being shown up and he hates being wrong. You did both of those, and you made fun of his taste."

"Showed him up? When did I do that?"

Tenten answered carelessly. "Oh, you proved that he was wrong about there being a worldwide system of currency and you showed him up by knowing more about it then he did. Lee told him that you were pretty mad about it, not to mention that whole thing about him giving you a heart attack while we were hiding in that bush."

"Oh, that makes sense," said Paige sarcastically.

"Yeah, doesn't it? That's just Neji. He can be quite the head case. You'll get used to his mood swings."

"Oh, I'm used to mood swings," said Paige nonchalantly, "Tori's like that all the time."

"Hey!"

Tenten giggled. "Oh, here comes Captain Youth!"

As she spoke Gai ran up to them. "Good morning, youthful young ladies! It is nice to see you this morning! Paige-san and Victoria-chan I presume! I would stop to chat, but I must get back to my laps! I'll see you later!"

"That was odd," said Sakura.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get used to him popping up like that. Lee's just as bad. Speaking of laps, I need to go back and help Neji. I guess I'll see you guys later! Bye bye!"

Tori started grumbling as they walked away. "What the heck is wrong with him? What gives him the right to hate me before he even meets me?"

"You hate people before you meet them," said Paige.

"Your point is?"

"And you hate being wrong, you hate being shown up by someone, you use a variation of Gentle Fist on your sisters when you're mad, and you have extreme mood swings. Plus you both have oldest child complexes. All I'm saying that you and Neji have a lot in common."

"Yeah," Sakura chimed in, "once you two get over this little misunderstanding you'll be best friends!"

"Yeah, that'll happen," Tori muttered darkly.

_What does she mean? _Asked Inner Sakura. _How can she hate Neji? He's freakin' hot!_

_Yeah, he is, but you don't know Tori. She buts heads the most with people who are like her. The more alike they are, the more she tends to not get along._

_But you two have a lot in common and she doesn't hate you._

_Not hobbies, dimwit, personality traits and similar skills. Tori and I don't have the same personality traits or the same skills except for sleeping late and having chakra. We're almost opposites._

_Great… _

_What?_

_I can't tell you. It's confidential._

Paige and Sakura continued to converse inside their minds as Tori stewed beside them. Then Sakura found something to distract Tori. "Hey, Tori, Paige! There's someone else that I need to introduce you to!" She pointed toward a boy sitting a little ways away. He was crouched over a pad of paper drawing. His back was to them, but judging by his hair and questionable taste in clothing, Paige and Tori could already tell who he was. "Ooh!" squealed Tori, snapping out of her funk, "It's Sai-kun! I love him!"

"Great!" said Sakura, happy to distract her. "I'll introduce you! He's gotten much better at interacting with people!"

"Hey Sai!" called Sakura as they approached. "What's up?"

Sai looked up at them. "Hi Sakura. I was just drawing."

Sakura smiled. "That's cool. Hey, I want to introduce you to my friends,"

"Okay," replied Sai, setting aside his tablet.

"This," said Sakura, motioning toward Paige, "Is Sirrah Paige, and this" she pointed at Tori, "is Sisiar Tori."

Sai nodded and appeared to think for a moment. "You can call me Sai. It's nice to meet you, Darkie and Tabletop."

"_ What the heck is wrong with you!!!!!????!!!!"_ Tori screamed. "_I'll kill you!!!!!!!"_

For the third time that day, Paige restrained Tori. "Sakura, help me. Grab her by the arm and walk away."

Sai noticed that they were leaving. "Bye then. It was nice to meet you." He smiled and went back to his drawing.

"Sorry about that. I stand corrected. Sai has gotten better at interacting with _boys_, not girls. It seems that he's still in his opposites phase." Sakura sighed. "How about we go talk to some girls. I bet that Ino's working today." She guided the still steaming Tori and the embarrassed Paige toward a flower shop. Ino was standing toward the entrance of the shop. She was pretending to be arranging flowers, but she was really watching Sai out of the corner of her eye. She looked up as Sakura and the girls entered. "Oh, hey Bill board Brow. What's up?" As Ino spoke she continued to watch Sai. Sakura shrugged off the insult. "Oh, I've just been introducing Paige and Tori to everyone. Have you already heard about them?"

"Oh yeah," replied Ino, "Shika and Chou just told me about how they met them. I saw that you guys met Sai. Isn't he hot? And he's so sweet too! He likes to call me Ms. Beautiful!" Ino made a flirty face. "Isn't that cute!"

"Sure…" Sakura spoke as if she had already heard Ino's speech a thousand times.

"That's interesting," Tori muttered, "He called us Tabletop and Darkie."

Ino giggled. "Oh don't mind him! Sai-kun just calls you what you look like! No offense guys, but Paige, you are pretty flat, and Tori, you're wearing a lot of black, plus you're really tan."

"Except for the fact that you have it mixed up," Tori growled in a low voice, "I'm Tabletop and Paige is Darkie."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening to you. Sai is just so cute when he draws! I wasn't paying attention."

"I said…"

Sakura cut Tori off, "Shush, she's better like this then when she's angry. If she figures out that Sai was using the opposite of her appearance to describe her she'll go crazy!"

Before Tori could continue her argument, Paige spoke. "Tori, it's Hinata! Let's glomp her!"

"I don't know," Tori growled, "What if I crush her with my table-chest?"

"Oh, get over it! Who knows when we'll get a chance to glomp Hinata again?" She grabbed Tori by the wrist.

"Fine…"

Paige ran at Hinata top speed, then jumped on her. In her excitement she didn't notice that Tori had remained with Sakura. "Hinata!!!!"

Hinata screamed at the top of her lungs. Ino, Sakura, and Tori all stared; across the square, Sai remained absorbed in his drawing.

"Gomenasai, Hinata-chan! Gomen gomen gomen!!!!"

"A-ano…" squeaked Hinata as she tried to get her bearings.

Sakura rushed outside to do damage control. "Sorry Hinata! This is Sirrah Paige…."

Hinata gathered herself, "Oh yes, Neji-nii-san told me about you. Where is your friend?"

Sakura grabbed Tori. "This is Sisiar Tori, Hinata. She's not in the best of moods right now; she just met Sai,"

Hinata smiled. " Yes, Sai makes me uncomfortable too. He likes to call me Loudmouth."

Tori smiled back. "Sorry about Paige. She really wanted to glomp you."

"It's okay. By the way, Ino, have you seen Shino and Kiba? We're supposed to be meeting Kurenai-sensei in half an hour and I can't find them,"

Ino screwed up her face. "No I haven't, thank God! Shino gets bugs in the flowers and Kiba's always joking around in here."

Paige glanced toward the end of the street. A little white dog was running towards them. It didn't appear to see the group of girls, but quickly hid behind a near by barrel. Paige smiled. It was a cute dog. She glanced away again in time to see a hooded figure surrounded by a black cloud run towards them yelling. As he got closer, she could hear what he was saying. "Damn it, Kiba! I will kill you! Get out here! Kiba! I know that you're here!"

Hinata looked up. "Oh, hello Shino-kun. I was looking for you. We have to meet Kurenai-sensei soon, remember? Have you seen Kiba?"

"No I haven't, Hinata, that's why I'm running around yelling for him. I'll kill him once I catch him!"

Paige looked back at the dog. It had come out from behind the barrel and was sniffing around the flowers. It looked up at Shino then tilted its head so that it was looking at Hinata. The dog looked like he was smirking at them. Then he looked at Paige. His mouth grew into a big, doggy smile. Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke and the dog was gone. In its place was a spiky-haired boy. Hinata screamed, Shino yelled, and Ino hid behind Sakura.

"Hey, hot stuff," said the boy, "I'm Kiba."

Oh my gosh! It's Kiba! I'm going to die!

_Gosh, fangirl much?_

_Shut up, Sakura!_

**Yay! It's done! Many thanks to my reviewers for last chapter: Cross177, Nemo131, TakeTenEyes, Troublesome Natalie, rockleefan, byakuhana, and Pretty Kitty 8, who reviewed in an email that she sent me. Thank you for your kind (and sometimes sarcastic) words! One thing: rockleefan, what is the difference between pants and trousers? Anyways, thank you for reading! Please review! The next chapter goes up as soon as I get nine reviews! Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 11

Yes I know that I said that I wouldn't update until I got nine reviews, but school starts tomorrow and God only knows when I'll have time to update again. So, my thanks to TakeTenEyes, byakuhana, Nemo 131, Cross 177, and my newest reviewer, TonfaChick! Cue the applause! And now, onto the story!

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the book that I need to read for my Geography course by tomorrow._

Chapter Eleven

Dog Eyes

_I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves._

_-__August Strindberg_

_Saturday, February 3, 2007_

_Konoha, 12:12 p.m._

Outside Yamanaka flower shop

"Kiba?"

Kiba grinned and adjusted his jacket. "The one and only, honey. And what might your name be?"

Paige felt very strange. Her face felt hot, her stomach was twisted up in knots, and her heart was pounding. _What the hell is this?_ She thought.

_You silly, inexperienced child. That's what it feels like when you have a crush, you little fan girl, you!_

But Paige didn't hear Inner Sakura. She was too busy trying to remember what her name was. Kiba looked at her expectantly. Paige blushed more deeply. Tori smirked. Paige had never _liked_ a boy before. She always made fun of Tori when she liked someone.

Before Paige could gather herself though, Shino began talking. Unlike before when he was yelling, his voice was now perfectly level. "Kiba," he said slowly, "I know what you did. You kidnapped three of my bugs and hid them. I want you to come with me and get them from wherever you hid them."

Kiba laughed. "But Shino, even the smallest bat can find its friends when they are separated."

Tori laughed. Shino scowled. "Bats aren't insects. Come. Now."

Kiba strolled away behind Shino. "Bye bye, blondie. We'll talk later."

"Kiba…" growled Shino. Kiba flashed one last smile in Paige's direction, then followed Shino.

Tori, Paige, Hinata, and Ino all stared at Paige. "Wh-what was that?" stammered Hinata.

Tori grinned. "Dear friends, we have just witnessed a historical moment. Paige has her first crush."

Paige scowled and rolled her eyes. "No I don't. I don't know what you're talking about."

Ino smiled. "Oh yes you do! It was meant to be! Just like me and Sai!" she gasped, "Maybe we could have a double date sometime!"

Sakura tried to keep herself from snorting. "Why don't you just have a double wedding?"

Ino smiled. "Yeah! Sakura, you could be Sai's best man!"

Sakura's face morphed into a mask of complete fury. "_What are you talking about Ino-pig?" _Before she could continue her rant, another person entered the conversation. "Oh great! I found you guys! Hey, Sakura-chan…" It was Naruto. Paige sighed with relief. With any luck Naruto's presence would cause them to forget about Kiba. The girls all looked at Naruto. Ino decided to go back to "working"; Hinata slunk away to meet Kurenai with a blush on her face. Out of the Konoha kuniochi, only Sakura remained. "What was it that you needed, Naruto?"

Naruto grinned. "I actually only need you two. Tori, Granny Tsunade needs to do some medical examinations on you. And while she's doing that, Paige, I need to show you to the apartment that you guys are sharing."

Tori's face went pale. "Medical examinations?"

Naruto nodded obliviously. "Yeah. Usual doctor stuff, plus some chakra stuff."

Paige grinned evilly. Tori hated being examined, especially when she had to take her clothes off. _Oh well! That's what she deserves for making fun of me and Kiba-kun! _

"So, Sakura-chan, can you take Tori to the hospital and I'll take Paige to her apartment?"

"Sure. I have to go there for training in an hour anyways. I might as well take Tori."

As they turned to go their separate ways, Tori grabbed Paige by the arm. "I'll get you for this," she hissed.

"And how is it my fault?" Paige whispered back.

Tori scowled and followed Sakura. Paige waved goodbye and went after Naruto.

"So, where are we going?"

Naruto replied, "I'm going to take you to your apartment. It's actually in the same complex that Tenten lives in. I already picked up groceries for you guys. All you really have to do is unpack." They walked a few more blocks until they arrived at a three-story building. A few large trees grew near by. It wasn't a very busy part of the village. In fact, it seemed rather cozy. "Well, this is it. Your room is on the third floor. I think it's A3. I've gotta go! Have fun!" He ran to the nearest tree, sprinted up the trunk, and leaped away over the rooftops. _Well, I guess that's it then_. Paige began to make her way up the stairs to the apartment. When she reached the top, she made her way down the hall to A3. The door was open, so Paige went in. She glanced around. The window faced the street. There was a futon in the room with some pillows and a plushie that looked suspiciously like Neji. The frames on the wall held pictures of Tenten with her teammates. Paige heard something moving behind her. "Sorry, Tenten. That idiot Naruto told me the wrong room number." She turned to face the other girl. Tenten's hair was wet and she was wearing a bathrobe. "Oh, that's okay, Paige-chan. Naruto is eternally sending people to the wrong place. Although he's never sent anyone to my house before. But he _is_ always sending people to our training ground in the middle of battle simulations. We're really lucky that not too many people have gotten hurt because of him."

Paige grinned at her. "He said that Tori and I would be staying in the same apartment complex as you. Do you know which room is ours?"

"Oh yeah, Tsunade-sama did mention that. You're right across the hall from me. There are bunches of old people here, so you need to be quiet at night. Anything else?"

"Is that a Neji plushie?"

Tenten blushed. "Yeah, it is. Hinata helped me make him. She's really good at artsy stuff like that. She was trying to teach me how to sew. It really didn't go too well. I'm better with sebon needles than I am with sewing needles."

Paige smiled again. "Same here. Tori is decent at that kind of thing, but only if it catches her attention. Once she gets bored with it she'll never touch it again."

Tenten laughed. "Here, let me grab your key. I can help you unpack Tori's stuff. Now where did I put it?" She shuffled the papers on the low table, then started looking inside of jars. "Ah! Here it is! Right where I would be sure to find it!" Tenten held up the key triumphantly; it had been stashed inside of the pocky jar. "Let's go!" They crossed the hall on tiptoe. "Shush," warned Tenten. "The Ushijimas usually take a nap around this time. They live next door." She slid the key into the lock of _C_3, then silently eased open the door. The layout was very much like Tenten's room. Just inside the door was an area for shoes walled off from the rest of the house. A few shallow steps led down to the living area. The furniture was just like in Tenten's house (aside from the Neji plushie). There was a futon, a low dinner table that could fit a couple of people, and a little kitchenette. A door led to the small bedroom. In the bedroom were two twin beds that faced each other. Also in the room were two doors and a window. One door led to the bathroom, the other to the closet. The window looked directly out at one of the trees. Paige thought that she could probably jump from the window right into the tree. Tenten walked across the room to the closet and removed the bags inside. "Here's you suitcase. I think that Naruto brought it this morning," she tossed the suitcase onto the nearest bed. "And here is Tori's duffel bag and backpack. Lee brought them over to me last night around two," she threw Tori's bags across the room to the bed by the window. They landed in the exact center. "God knows what he was doing up that late. Him and his stupid youth. Maybe he was running laps by moonlight or something." Paige didn't seem to be listening to her. She was staring out the window. Tenten grabbed a pocky stick out of the pocket of her bathrobe and threw it at the back of Paige's head like a kunai. "Hey! This is the first time that I've gotten to talk to a girl in ages, and all you're doing is staring out the window!" Paige turned to look at Tenten with a slight smile on her face. "Please Paige! I spend all day with Emo Boy and the Youth Squad! Talk!" Paige crossed over to the bed with her suitcase on it and started unpacking.

"Here, you get Tori's stuff. What do you want to talk about?"

"I need to talk about girl stuff!" A devious look stole across Tenten's face. "For instance, how about boys? I saw Hinata at the training ground, and she mentioned that you met the local dog nut. What was that about?"

Paige blushed. "Aren't Ino and Sakura the ones who ask this sort of question, not you?"

Tenten gave a deranged laugh. "Oh no! I'm just as evil as they are!" In the next instance she leaped across both beds and held a pocky stick across Paige's throat like a kunai. "Spill, or else," she growled.

Paige burst into laughter. "Nice weapon, Tenten."

Tenten glanced down at the chocolate stick in her hand. "Whoops. I forgot that I didn't have any real weapons," she reached down into her robe and pulled out the red box. "Pocky?" She held the box out to Paige.

"Sure! Thanksies!" Paige reached out for the box of candy, but Tenten pulled it away. "Not until you tell me what happened with Lord Hound."

Paige sighed heavily. "Fine. He was running away from Shino by disguising himself as a puppy with one of those jutsus of his. When he saw me a reverted back to his true form to introduce himself,"

Tenten interrupted. "From what I heard he reverted back to his true form to flirt with you."

"Okay, okay. He was flirting. Then once Shino started yelling at him he left."

"Did he say goodbye? Or did he just say 'see ya' or something?" Tenten asked eagerly.

Paige blushed again. "He said 'Bye bye, blondie. We'll talk later.'"

"You memorized exactly what he said!?! You so like him!"

"I don't like him," Paige mumbled. She was getting flustered. "I was just feeling kinda funny."

Tenten looked up from the clothes that she was placing in the closet. "What do you mean funny?"

"I just felt weird. My stomach was all screwed up, my head hurt, and I couldn't concentrate."

"Ha! Your own body has convicted you! You so like him!"

"Says who? I'm sure it was just because I'm so tired."

"It's classic! That's how everyone feels when they are around a special person!"

Paige looked at the floor like it was the most interesting thing that she had ever seen. "Please don't tell anyone, Tenten. I don't really know what that feeling was yet."

Tenten gave her a knowing smile. "Okay, Paige. Whatever." She looked back at Tori's duffel bag and then glanced at Paige's. "Hey, neither of you brought any soap. You have two different kinds of shampoo, but no soap."

Paige glanced at her suitcase. "Yeah, my mom had soap in her suitcase. Whoops."

Tenten walked towards the door. "I'm going to go to my apartment and get dressed. I'll grab you an extra bar of soap while I'm over there. Once Tori gets back we should all have lunch."

"'Kay. Thanks, Ten-chan."

Paige went back into the main room after Tenten left. She wandered into the kitchenette and started poking through cabinets. "What the heck! The only things in here are tea bags and ramen! This is Naruto's work. He is the only person in the world who would buy one box of tea bags and twenty-seven packs of ramen!" As Paige continued her search, a knock sounded on the door. "It's open, Tenten," called Paige. The door slid open and Paige heard footsteps coming into the kitchenette. "Sorry, I'm not Tenten." Paige looked up to see Kiba. "Remember me?" This time Paige managed to keep her cool. "Yeah, nice to see you again, Kiba. I'm Paige. Where's Akamaru?" Kiba smiled at her. "I had to leave him outside. They don't like having dogs in the building. So what's your story?"

"You must be the only one who doesn't know yet. Apparently Tori and I have some sort of freaky chakra and Orochimaru found out about it. So Tsunade-sama is trying to protect us by teaching us to use our chakra."

"Oh yeah! I did hear about that! Tsunade-sama and Gai were talking about it! Didn't it have something to do with a parallel universe? I zoned out because I thought it was some crap about their Superman fan club."

"I still can't believe that they like Superman! How did Gai even find one of those?"

Kiba put on a mysterious face. "That, my dear girl, is one of the world's few mysteries. We may never know how." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "You wanna go grab some lunch?"

"Sorry, Kiba," said Paige, "I already told Tenten that I would have lunch with her and Tori." Kiba's face fell. "Okay then. I'll ask Shino. Wait!" He brightened again. "You wanna hang out with me tomorrow night around six-thirty?"

"Sure! Why not!"

Kiba beamed at her. "I'll see you then. _Ja ne!_" Paige continued to smile after he left the apartment. But her merriment did not last long. A minute later Tori stormed in followed by Tenten. As Tori stomped into the bedroom, Tenten sidled up to Paige. "I think she's in a bad mood," she whispered. "Be careful what you say," Paige whispered back. "So," asked Tenten nervously, "How was your doctor's appointment?"

"How do you fucking think it was?" growled Tori. "It was terrible!"

"Would you care to elaborate?" asked Tenten.

"By the way Paige, what was that dog doing up here?" Paige flushed slightly, but Tori didn't notice. "You wanna know what happened? I'll tell you what happened!" Tori's voice was rising.

"Could you be a little bit quieter, Tori?" Tori glared at Paige, but she lowered her voice to a dangerous whisper. "So first I got to take off my clothes and be prodded by Tsunade. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be in close proximity to her without a top on?" Tenten nodded cautiously. "Then she left and sent back a _male_ nurse! It was just as bad as Tsunade if not worse! And when he was finished doing God knows what Tsunade came in and started interrogating me! While my clothes were still off! So she's asking me all these questions one after the another, and then when I snapped at her she said to me 'Stop being bitchy and answer the questions! It's for your own good.' So I said, ' Maybe I wouldn't be so bitchy if I wasn't sitting here in my bra!' And she goes, 'Just answer the damn questions.' Once she was finally done she dragged out an eye chart, and gave me one of those eye patch things. I read the chart perfectly."

"What's so bad about that?" asked Paige.

Tori grimaced. "Tsunade was still standing in front of me when I read the chart! She wasn't even done explaining it to me yet!"

"What does that mean?" asked Tenten.

Tori frowned. "It means that I have some sort of freak dojutsu! I looked right through Tsunade to the chart on the other side!"

"And what's so bad about that?" asked Paige. "Dojutsus are extremely useful."

"I have no idea how to control it! In fact I can't control my chakra at all! It spikes when I'm angry, but other than that I suck at any sort of control!"

"That's okay!" said Tenten cheerfully. "That just means that you'll need to train extra hard! Everyone in Konoha has been using chakra their whole lives. You only just started. You can't possibly compare yourself to them! You just need someone to train you who specializes in dojutsu!"

Paige jumped in. "Exactly! You're so lucky! Kakashi can train you!"

Tori turned away from them for a moment. When she turned back her eyes were squinted up and a horrible half smile was on her face. "Oh no," she said in a saccharine voice. "Kakashi is still recovering from his last mission. He won't be well enough to train anyone for several weeks. Besides, what I have is nothing like the Sharingan."

Tenten glanced at Paige worriedly. "Then what is it?'

Tori's voice went completely flat. "Tsunade-sama said that it seems to be a mutation of the Byakagan. I get to train with Neji."

**Yeah, that's that. Anyways, wish me luck! As of tomorrow I am officially freshmeat. That'll be fun. I'll see you in a bit!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Look who is back! I have finally gotten some free time from my grueling schedule. And I have gotten some inspiration for this story! I know how this bit is going to end now! Hey, I want to ask your opinions (and I know that most people totally ignore this introduction part that I put in, but please answer me). This is part one of a trilogy. Should I post the next two pieces separately, or should I post them as one with this one? Thanks for your time enjoy the chapter!**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Wikipedia, but I did have to use it for a heck of a lot of research this chapter!_

Chapter Twelve

Mizu Miso

_There is only one admirable form of the imagination: the imagination that is so intense that it creates a new reality, that it makes things happen._

_-__Sean O'Faolain___

_Saturday, February 3, 2007_

_Konoha, 2:30 p.m._

_Apartment complex_

Paige poked listlessly at her "miso" ramen. Tori had made it while ranting and raving about having to train with Neji. In between her complaints about her new sempai, she threw in grumbles about trans-fat and sodium. As a result, only about three grains of flavoring had actually made it into the pot. While Tori's back was turned, Tenten whispered, "It's like eating plain noodles in hot water." Paige grimaced and nodded. "Give it to me," she hissed. As Tori went into another rant about narcissistic prodigies, Paige took both bowls of ramen and dumped them into a porcelain jar on the table. She quickly put the lid on the jar. "When you leave, bring this with you," she whispered to Tenten. They quickly sat up straight again as Tori turned back around. Tori's face changed from irritated to pleased. "Oh, you finished already? Do you want more?" Before Tenten and Paige could answer a knock came on the door. Tori walked over to answer it. "Quick!" whispered Tenten. She shoved the lidded jar into Paige's arms. "Dispose of it!" Paige quickly ran over to the window, threw it open, and poured the ramen out.

"Oh, hey Naruto. What's up?" said Tori as she opened the door. Naruto looked at her quizzically. "What's with the apron?"

"Oh, I was just making some ramen for lunch. I have lots left over. Do you want it?"

"Heck yeah!" said Naruto. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and the entire pot of ramen. "Itadakimasu!" He heaped a bunch of noodles into his mouth, chewed, then spit it out. "That's terrible! Who the heck made this?"

"Not a good move…" whispered Paige.

"He's gonna get it…"

"What do you mean it's terrible! What's wrong with it? All I did was follow the directions! You're the one who bought the stupid product!" Naruto gave Paige and Tenten a look as if to say 'Help me!'

Tenten mouthed, _change the subject!_

"So Tori! That's a nice shirt!" Naruto said desperately.

"Why the heck are you looking at my shirt! First you insult what I cook, then you have the nerve to stare at my shirt!" Tori moved toward him as if she was going to hit him. Paige quickly stepped in between them. "Tori! Chill! Naruto, what did you need to tell us?" In an undertone she added to Naruto, "Never talk to Tori after she gets back from the doctor's except sympathetically." Naruto smiled cautiously at them and deliberately addressed Paige. "Paige, you need to go meet Anko at training ground eleven. She's going to be training you in pretty much everything until Granny Tsunade figures out what your specialty is. And Paige," he added in a whisper, "tell Tori to meet Neji at training ground four in half an hour. Bye!" he said in his normal voice. Tori glared after him as he left. Tenten got up carefully. "I need to go now. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Ten," said Paige. "So," she said, turning to Tori as Tenten left. "Do you want to walk to the training ground with me? You can hang around for a little while." Tori smiled for the first time since she got home. "I'd love to!" They headed out the door. Once they arrived down on the street, Tori asked Paige, "So, what was Kiba doing here earlier?" Paige told her what had happened, carefully downplaying the details. "So, you're going to 'hang out' tomorrow night?"

"Yeah." Tori looked back at Paige suspiciously. "Someone is leaving out a few important details. Do you like him?"

Paige quickly countered with another question. "Do you like Lee?" She smiled triumphantly. Tori could talk about feelings for hours. "I'm not falling for that," said Tori. "You know I'll drag it out of you eventually!" She smiled. "But not right now. We're here. Sakura already told me where my training ground is, so I'm going to go over there right now. Wish me luck!" She smiled and walked away. Paige grinned. _She is so freaking moody…_ And with that thought she entered the training ground. She thought of Tori's earlier experience with Team Gai's training ground and looked around before entering. Sure enough, several trip wires sparkled in the shadows beneath the trees. She grinned and carefully hopped over them. On the other side of the wires the ground was disturbed. _She probably buried some explosive tags there, but I need to look before I just jump over it. I missed landing on the wires by luck; there's probably something on the other side too. _She looked more closely. There was nothing on the far side of the explosive tags, but on both sides of the tags were pit traps. _She knew that I would try to skirt the explosive tags instead of just jumping over them. _In this way Paige finally made her way to the center of the training ground without setting off any booby traps. _Hmm… She's still not here. I probably shouldn't sit down. Coaches don't like it when you're sitting down; Anko won't like it either. But should I be out here in the open, or under the trees? _She moved under the trees. Weren't ninjas known for lurking in the shadows?

_Bang!_

While Paige was pondering this, a huge explosion went off right beside her. The force sent her flying. As she was about to land she remembered to twist her body to avoid the group of small, sharp spikes that Anko had set nearby as a trap. As she got up and brushed herself off, she heard applause. "Nice job," came a loud female voice. "I didn't expect someone as inexperienced as you to get that far. But you didn't see the bomb that I buried directly under you." Paige got up carefully. "How would I have seen it? I don't have a dojutsu and it was well disguised. Nice entrance by the way."

Anko grinned. "Thanks! It's time to start up. Tsunade already taught you basic jutsus, right?" Paige nodded in agreement. "Pretty impressive for a maggot. What we're going to do is a full on battle between the two of us. We'll be all over the training ground. You should probably avoid all the traps that I set 'cuz they can kill you. As soon as someone's full body hits the ground it's over. Yeah and here's the other thing. You are going to end up fighting Orochimaru at some point. He's going to be expecting you to use traditional methods, staying to the shadows, clones, substitution, all that stuff. However, he will be caught completely off guard if you do not use traditional methods. Just try to keep that in mind. It could help you. Now go!" Anko quickly threw several kunai at Paige. Paige jumped into the air and carefully dodged them DDR style. She them scooped them up in her hand, ran at a nearby tree, and used her momentum coming off the tree to propel herself towards Anko. Instead of going for Anko with the kunai that she had grabbed though, Paige swung herself around and got Anko in a headlock. Anko grinned; she used a judo move to flip Paige onto the ground in front of her. But instead of hitting the ground heavily, Paige landed on her hands and used a donkey kick to knock Anko over. But Anko changed direction in midair, hit the ground, and jumped right back toward Paige again. She came at Paige with a full roundhouse kick, but Paige ducked and rolled away. As soon as Anko hit the ground, Paige fired the kunai at her feet. Anko jumped as high as she could, grabbed the overhanging branch and flipped herself back over it. She landed directly behind Paige. Anko aimed a kick towards Paige's head and connected. Paige was sent flying once again. This time she landed on a trip wire. Kunai with exploding tags attached to them rained down from the trees above. Paige saw the tags and quickly ducked and covered her head. The tags exploded, sending trees branched flying. Paige grabbed a large limb that landed near her and ran at Anko again. She used the branch like a club and swung wildly at her sensei. Anko blocked every blow that came her way, except for the last one, which hit her in the back. "This is fun, isn't it, wormy!" yelled Anko as she got up again. Anko made several hand signs, then disappeared in a flash of smoke. Paige whirled around, searching for the direction of Anko's next attack. Suddenly, Anko had her surrounded in clones. They stood around Paige in a circle, all grinning evilly. And then they burst into flame.

"Since when can you use fire jutsus?" called Paige.

"Kakashi taught me some basics," Anko and her doubles called back. "See if you can stop all of us at once!"

They began to circle Paige faster and faster until she appeared to be surrounded by a ring of flames. A slow smile grew on Paige's face. Now was her chance to use the technique that she had been practicing the last few days in her free time. Wikipedia really was a useful thing. Paige silently flashed some hand signs, then whispered, "Ippai mizu muchi jutsu," She pulled her hands apart from the "tora" sign. Water erupted from the space between her hands. It formed itself into a long, snake-like whip of water, almost like a cat-o-nines. Paige took the water-whip in her hands and began to swing it at Anko's clones. If the whip even brushed one of the doubles then the clone would dissolve into thin air. One by one, Paige took out each of her opponents with an expert flair. Finally, all that was left was Paige, her weapon, and a dripping Anko. Anko smiled.

"Very nicely done! I don't think I've ever seen a technique quite like that before! See, that's what I mean by unpredictable!"

Paige smiled and flushed just a little bit. "Thanks, it wasn't _that_ great." She realized that she still had her whip in her hands. "Kai!" It broke form, each drop of water free falling for a brief moment, sparkling in the sun before kissing the earth.

"Very cool," said Anko. She turned to walk away, then turned on her heel and shoved Paige. "There, now I win! Your full body hit the ground!"

"What! That's not fair!"

Anko stuck her tongue out at Paige, "Just kidding! Come on, we need to talk about some basics!"

Anko led Paige back to the stand of trees where their meeting had started. She started to sit down, but then stood up quickly. "I forgot about these." She removed the spikes that she had planted in the ground earlier. "There, it's safe now. Sit down."

Paige doubled checked the area under the tree, then she sat down. "So, onee-chan, what do we need to talk about?"

Anko gave her a look. "If you _ever_ call me onee-chan again I will make your life miserable."

"Okay, nii-sama." Paige smirked at Anko.

"You know what I mean, " Anko grumbled. "Anyways, we're not arguing over honorifics. I want to go over some of the finer points of water technique jutsus with you."

"Okay, what about it?"

"Well, first of all, you are very talented. You're like a natural, almost a freakin' prodigy. See, for most water jutsus, there needs to be some sort of pre-existing source of water nearby for the shinobi to use. There is no water nearby, obviously. I know that Kakashi and What's-His-Face the Shark Guy can create their own bodies of water and then perform a jutsu, but you didn't create a visible body of water. You're pretty freakin' good for a beginner!"

"Really? I didn't know that…"

"Where did you get your hand signs from, anyways? I didn't know that the fifth taught you that much."

"Tsunade-sama didn't teach me. I looked it up on the Internet. But I really didn't research all of that extra stuff about water jutsus."

"Why not?"

"Mostly because it was a whole separate article from the hand signs. I was feeling lazy. Not to mention I got kind of distracted…"

"So, did you just make up the signs as you went along, or what?"

"No, the article had a list of signs used for some of the more common jutsus. I was trying to memorize how to do that water dragon one, but I messed up the signs half way through. It turned out so cool that I just had to name it!"

"It turned out really well. Gosh, you've been in Konoha, what, three, four days and you've already invented your own jutsu! You could be our next rookie of the year!" She started laughing. "You know, technically, you're still a genin and you've outstripped a ton of our chunin!"

"Really! That's just how fly I am."

"Uh…"

Paige blushed. "Never mind."

"Whatever," Anko nodded. "I want to go over some basic water stuff. I really can't give you an example since I'm not very good with water, but I can tell you if you're doing it wrong."

They spent the next few hours enhancing Paige's arsenal of water jutsus. She learned how to make water clones, prisons, and other water manipulation techniques. Finally, when the sun was low in the sky, Anko ended their session. "Okay, we're done for now. We'll do some more work tomorrow. You need to go pick up your friend from Neji. I'll see you tomorrow, maggot."

"Bye bye, onee-chan!" called Paige. Anko grimaced, but she didn't say anything. Paige left the training ground and began to jog to where Tori was training. It was nice weather this time of the afternoon.

As she jogged, Paige began to think of things in general, but she seemed to keep circling back around to think of Kiba. It would be cool to hang out with him tomorrow. She had never really just hung out with a guy before. If Tori or Tenten asked, of course she would say it was just for fun; a little get together among friends. But in her own mind, she had built it up to something just a little bit bigger. She didn't know why; she had only just met Kiba after all. It's not like this was a date or anything. But it could be fun.

She had finally reached Tori's training ground. It looked like they weren't quite done yet. In fact, it almost looked like Neji was yelling at Tori. It was hard to really tell because of the sun behind them and their distance from where Paige stood, but Tori finally stomped her foot and walked away from Neji. Tori reached Paige with anger in her eyes. Tears were ready to pour over the corners of her eyes. "I really hate him." Paige decided that for the time being, silence would be the best consolation for Tori. She put her arm around her friend's shoulders and turned them towards home, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

**So there you are! I'm hoping to begin work on the next chapter very, very soon! Thanks to all my reviewers! Now I must bounce away; it's almost time for beddy-bye! Boing, boing, boing!!!**


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